CHAPTER 2: MISPLACED INFERENCE
As for the verses where Allah says,
which means, “… a party of the people of the Scripture stand for the right, they recite the Verses of Allah during the hours of the night, prostrating themselves in prayer. They believe in Allah and the Last Day; they enjoin Al Ma’ruf (Islamic Monotheism, and following Prophet Muhammad) and forbid Al-Munkar (polytheism, disbelief and opposing Prophet Muhammad); and they hasten in (all) good works; and they are among the righteous.” (Al-‘imran, 3: 113-114)
These verses are not exclusive for the Christians, but Allah, the Exalted, revealed it after this verse,
which means, “Indignity is put over them wherever they may be, except when under a covenant (of protection) from Allah, and from men; they have drawn on themselves the Wrath of Allah, and destruction is put over them. This is because they disbelieved in the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah and killed the Prophets without right. This is because they disobeyed (Allah) and used to transgress beyond bounds (in disobedience to Allah, crimes and sins).” (Al-‘imran, 3: 112)
Those who received indignity wherever they may be, who had drawn on themselves the Wrath of Allah, killed the prophets without right, disobeyed and transgressed are the Jews who had committed these acts before Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent.
Thus, these verses refer to the Jews more than the Christians, just like the verse,
which means, “And of the people of Musa (Moses) there is a community who lead (the men) with truth and establish justice therewith (i.e. judge men with truth and justice).” (Al-A’raf, 7: 159)
This is sheer praise of those who held fast to the Torah but not to those who disbelieved in ‘Isa (Jesus) or in Muhammad (peace be upon him).
It tells about those who were characterized with these qualities before Muhammad (peace be upon him). As for the people of the Scripture who lived during the lifetime of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and believed in him, they shall be granted a double reward.
Whoever believes in Muhammad (peace be upon him) and makes known his faith in Islam is one of the Muslims as long as he performs the acts of the Muslims both secretly and publicly. He is counted among the believers even if he used to be a disbelieving idol-worshipper before that. So what would be the case if he is one of the people of the Scripture? Amongst the people of the Scripture who embraced Islam were ‘Abdullah bin Salam, Salman Al-Farisy and others.
Remembering Allah in Monasteries, Synagogues and Mosques
The Christians say, “We have found that the Qur’an glorifies our Bible, speaks highly of our monasteries and churches and testifies that the name of Allah is mentioned much inside them.” The clearest example is the following verse,
which means, “For had it not been that Allah checks one set of people by means of another, monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is mentioned much would surely have been pulled down.” (Al-Hajj, 22: 40)
The phrase “…wherein the name of Allah is mentioned much” is said just after mentioning mosques, and the mosques are for the Muslims. Thus, the phrase does not mean within the churches of Christians. Then, the phrase, “…wherein the name of Allah is mentioned much” can mean only in mosques, in which case there is no certainty that the name of Allah is mentioned much in monasteries and synagogues.
It can also mean that mentioning Allah occurred a great deal in all of them. There is no doubt that the name of Allah was mentioned much in monasteries, churches, and synagogues before Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent. Those places were full of people who followed the unchanged religion of Christ wherein the name of Allah was mentioned a great deal.
As for the precedence in the order of words, it is for the purpose of ascending from what is lower to what is higher. For example Allah says,
which means, “That Day shall a man flee from his brother, And from his mother and his father, And from his wife and his children.” (‘Abasa, 80: 34-36)
He also says,
has indeed forbidden are Al-Fawahish (great evil sins, every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse, etc.) whether committed openly or secretly, sins (of all kinds), unrighteous oppression, joining partners (in worship) with Allah for which He has given no authority, and saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge.” (Al-A’raf, 7: 33)
The same applies to this verse, in which Allah says that which means, “…monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, wherein the name of Allah is mentioned much would surely have been pulled down.” (Al-Hajj, 22: 40) Allah, Glorified be He, clarifies that had it not been that Allah checks one set of people by means of another, the places of worship would have been pulled down. Then He mentions the most inferior places of worship which are the monasteries, as they are only made for one person or a very small number of people. Finally He concludes with the most superior of them, which are the mosques, where the name of Allah is mentioned a great deal.
Thus, in the verse, the judgment pertaining to the places of worship is closely related to the people. The people of the Scripture, before any abrogation and change to their Divine Book has taken place, are considered as believing Muslims. Pulling down the places of worship of Muslims is great corruption and a grave sin.
From these points, we conclude that the claim of the Christian concerning what Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought, are absolutely false. On the contrary, what he brought forth proves their falsity in many ways.
Praising Jesus Christ and His Followers
Christians say, “This (Muhammad praising Christ and his followers) makes it obligatory on us to hold fast to our religion and not to abandon or reject our beliefs. We would never follow a religion other than the religion of Christ, the Word and Spirit of God.”
The answer to these words is that they make two false allegations:
Firstly: Muhammad (peace be upon him) was not sent to them but also to the Arabs. This claim is considered to be one of the greatest instances of falsehood concerning Muhammad (peace be upon him), for he did not say, “I was not sent to the people of the Scripture,” nor did he say, “I was only sent to the Arabs!” On the contrary, all his words and actions clarify that he was sent to all the people of the earth whether they were pagans, Jews or Christians.
Secondly: that Muhammad (peace be upon him) praised the Christian religion after it had been changed and abrogated. This is an even greater lie than the first, for how can he praise their religion while he declares their disbelief in more than one place in the Book revealed to him and calls for fighting them (in the Cause of Allah)? He also despises whoever abandons fighting them and describes those who disobey him in their fight as being hypocrites and disbelievers, and mentions that they will be cast down into Hellfire. That is the message from his Lord, which he conveys. It is only attributed to him because he was chosen to deliver the Message of Allah.
As for Allah praising Christ and those who followed the Christian religion before it was changed, this is true and does not contradict the obligation of following Muhammad (peace be upon him). If it was destined that the religion Christ was not to be abrogated and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) praised all those who follow it but stated that Allah had sent him, it would not be contradictory. And if he declares those who disbelieve in him to be disbelievers, it will not contradict his praise of them before they disbelieved in him.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) only praised those who followed an unchanged religion, but he dispraised those who changed the religion of Christ.
The Christians disbelieved just like the Jews. They disbelieved when they changed what was in the first Book, the Bible, and then disbelieved in the second Book, the Qur’an. As for those who did not change the Book or live during the time of Muhammad and believed in him, they are believers.
What clarifies our point is that Christ’s glorification of the Torah (Tawrah), following it and adhering to its rules is more than Muhammad’s glorification of the Bible (InjTI). But this is not to be taken as a justification for the Jews, which may abolish their obligation to follow Jesus. So how can Muhammad’s glorification be a justification, which may abolish the obligation to follow him?
Glorifying the Disciples
They say, “And his Disciples whom he sent to us have warned us in our very own language and delivered to us our religion and were glorified in that Book (i.e. the Qur’an), in the Chapter of AI-Hadid.
which means, “Indeed We have sent Our Messengers with clear proofs, and revealed to them the Scripture and the Balance (justice) that mankind may keep up justice.” (AI-HadTd, 57: 25)
The answer to this point has several aspects:
Firstly: In what is mentioned above, there is nothing which justifies disbelieving in the Messenger that was sent to you or to any other people or that justifies clinging to an altered and distorted religion. In addition to this, glorifying Musa (Moses, peace be upon him), his followers and the Torah is not a reason for the Jews to disbelieve in the Messenger who was sent to them and instead to cling to an altered, distorted religion.
Secondly: The statement, “We will not follow but Christ and his Disciples,” is a void statement because they follow neither Christ nor his Disciples because of two reasons:
1. Their religion was distorted and not all of it came from Christ and the Disciples. In fact, most of their teachings are not attributed to Christ or the Disciples.
2. Christ prophesied the coming of a Prophet named Ahmad. Allah, the Exalted says,
which means, “And (remember) when ‘Isa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), said: ‘O Children of Israel! I am the Messenger of Allah unto you confirming the Tawrah [(Torah) which came] before me, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmed.”‘ (As-Saff, 61- 6)
Thus, if they do not follow Ahmed, they will be guilty of disbelieving in Christ. They have other several prophecies from Christ and other prophets, which foretell the arrival of Ahmad.
What we mean to demonstrate here is the falsity of what some Christians take as pretexts from what Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought, and clarify whether these pretexts are against them or not, for they allege that there are some aspects in the Islamic religion that support them and their claims.
Thirdly: They claim that the Disciples are glorified in the Qur’an like the messengers, which is absolutely false. They have wrongly interpreted that verse,
which means, “those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace…” (Al-Fatihah, 1: 7)
They claim that it refers to the Christians. They also claim that the verse wnich means ‘that it became a bird by Allah’s leave’ (Al- Imran, 3: 49) means that it becomes a bird with the permission of the Divine Entity, which is the Word of God United with the human entity. There are many similar examples in which they wrongly interpret the Qur’anic verses just like they do with the Torah, the Bible, and the Psalms. Their interpretations are considered distortion, displacing Divine words from their right places, disbelieving in the verses and revelations of Allah and attributing manifest falsehood to His Prophets. Their falsehood is clear to all.
The falsity of their interpretation is demonstrated in the following points:
One: Allah, the Exalted says, “Indeed We have sent Our Messengers.” The phrase ‘Our Messengers’ in this verse is a plural object which refers to all the prophets whom Allah, the Exalted, sent.
Two: Allah has sent many messengers to all nations before Christ, so how is it possible that the statement of Allah would refer only to the Disciples that Christ has sent? His Disciples are in fact His messengers; they are in the same rank as the messengers of Musa (Moses) or Ibrahim (Abraham) or Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Three: Allah says in the same verse,
which means, “And We brought forth iron wherein is mighty power (in matters of war), as well as many benefits for mankind.” (AI-Hadid, 57: 25)
Allah mentions iron to clarify who is ordered to fight with iron for His Cause. And the Christians claim that neither the Disciples nor the Christians were ordered to fight anyone with iron.
Four: After this verse Allah says,
which means, “And indeed, We sent Nuh (Noah) and Ibrahim (Abraham), and placed in their offspring prophethood and Scripture, and among them there is he who is guided, but many of them are Fasiqun (rebellious, disobedient to Allah).” (AI-HadTd, 57: 26)
Allah mentions that He sent Nuh and ibrahIm after saying, “Indeed We have sent Our Messengers with clear proofs.” Thus, He is moving from the general to the specific, clarifying the judgments pertaining to the specific and its privileges from the general. Then He says,
which means, “Then, We sent after them, Our Messengers, and We sent Isa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary), and gave him the Injil (Gospel).” (AI-Hadid. 57: 27)
In the above verse, Allah states that He sent other Messengers after Nuh and Ibrahim, and sent Isa bin Maryam (i.e. Jesus, son of Mary) afterwards and gave him the Bible. Thus, ‘Isa (Jesus) came after the other Messengers. However, Allah did not mention that He sent anyone from the followers of Christ, but He mentions that He has “ordained in the hearts of those who followed him, compassion and mercy.” (AI-Hadid, 57: 27) Therefore, how is it possible to say that the Messengers whom Allah sent with clear proof, Divine books and justice are the Disciples and not the Messengers He sent before Christ?
Five: There is no verse in the Qur’an, which states that the Disciples are Messengers of Allah. In the Qur’an, Allah did not say that He sent any of them.
As for this verse,
which means, “And there came running from the farthest part of the town, a man, saying: “O my people! Obey the Messengers.” (Yasin, 36: 20)
It does not mention that those Messengers were the Disciples or that those people whom they were sent for believed in them. The only thing known is that those people to whom the three Messengers were sent were all destroyed after hearing only one extremely loud noise. These Messengers were Messengers of Allah before the time of Christ. They were sent to Antakya where Habib An-Najjar believed in them. This happened before the time of Christ. But this village did not believe in the Messengers, so Allah, Exalted be He, destroyed them as the Qur’an says. Antakya was rebuilt afterwards. Its inhabitants were disbelievers until some of the Disciples of Christ came to them. So, they believed in Christ through them and embraced Christianity.
Allah, the Exalted, says,
which means, “When We sent to them two Messengers, they believed them both, so We reinforced them with a third, and they said: ‘Verily! We have been sent to you as Messengers.’ They (people of the town) said: ‘You are only human beings like ourselves.”‘ (Yasin, 36: 14-15)
If they were messengers sent by a Messenger of Allah, there would be no disbelieving in them but in the one who had sent them. And if people disbelieved in them who were only envoys from a Messenger, they would be able to say, ‘Then send for the one who has sent us or to his companions, for they know that we are telling the truth about him.’ This cannot happen if they were Messengers of Allah.
Another point is that Allah says, “When We sent to them two Messengers,” which makes it very clear that He is the Sender, if any one other than Allah had sent them, they would not be sent by Allah but by the other person, for we do not say about those who were sent by Muhammad bin ‘Abdullah (i.e. the Prophet, peace be upon him) that they are Messengers of Allah. For example, we never say that about Dihyah bin Khalifah Al-Kalby or AI-Mughirah bin Shu’bah or ‘Abdullah bin Hudhafah or about any other person sent by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
It is well known that it is never said about all those envoys that they are messengers of Allah. Muslims never call them messengers of Allah. It is impermissible in the consensus of all Muslims to say that such people were among those who were meant in the verse,
which means, “Indeed We have sent Our Messengers with clear proofs.” (Al-Hadid, 57: 25)
If the envoys of Muhammad (peace be upon him) are not called The Messengers of Allah’ in the book revealed to him, then how can it be possible to attribute this title to the envoys of another Messenger?
By: Sheikhul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah
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