Friday 24 February 2017
THE STORY OF AN EARLY CHRISTIAN: SALMAN THE PERSIAN PART 1
An early Christian and one of the greatest of the Prophet's companions, Salman the Persian narrates his story of his search for the true religion of God to Abd-Allaah ibn Abbas:
I was a Persian man, one of the people of Isfahaan( A region in northwest Iran) from a village thereof called Jayy. My father was the chieftain of his village, and I was the dearest of God's creation to him. He loved me so much that he kept me in his house near the fire, as girls are kept in. I strove hard in the Magian (Zoroastrian) religion until I became the keeper of the fire, which I tended and did not let go out for a moment. My father had a huge garden, and he was busy one day with some construction work, so he said:
“O my son, I am too busy with this building today, go and check my garden,” and he told me some of the things he wanted done. I went out, heading towards his garden, and I passed by one of the Christian churches, where I could hear their voices as they were praying. I did not know anything about the people because my father had kept me in his house. When I passed by and heard their voices, I entered upon them to see what they were doing. When I saw them, I was impressed with their prayer and I was attracted to their way. I said: "By God, this is better than the religion that we follow."
By God, I did not leave them until the sun set, and I forgot about my father’s garden and did not go there. I asked them: "Where did this religion originate?"
They said: "In Al-Shaam" (known today as Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan). I returned to my father who had become worried and sent people out to look for me. Upon my arrival, he said, "O son! Where have you been? Didn’t I entrust you with an assignment?”
I said: "O my father, I passed by some people who were praying in a church of theirs, and I was impressed with what I saw of their religion. By God, I stayed with them until the sun set."
He said: "O my son, there is nothing good in that religion. Your religion and the religion of your forefathers is better than that."
I said: "No, by God, it is better than our religion."
He was afraid for me, and he put fetters on my legs and kept me in his house. I sent word to the Christians saying: "If any Christian merchants come to you from Al-Shaam, tell me about them."
Some Christian merchants came to them from Al-Shaam, and they told me about them.
I said to them: "When they have completed their business and want to go back to their own country, tell me about that."
So when they wanted to go back to their own country, they told me about that, and I threw off the irons from my legs and went out with them, until I came to Al-Shaam. When I reached Al-Shaam, I said: "Who is the best person in this religion?"
They said: "The bishop in the church."
So I went to him and said: "I like this religion, and I would like to stay with you and serve you in your church and learn from you and pray with you."
He said: "Come in."
So I went in with him, but he was a bad man. He would command them and exhort them to give charity, but he kept a great deal of it for himself and did not give it to the poor; he had amassed seven chests of gold and silver. I hated him deeply when I saw what he was doing, then he died and the Christians gathered to bury him.
I said to them: "This was a bad man; he commanded you and exhorted you to give charity, but when you brought it to him he kept it for himself and did not give any of it to the poor."
They said: "How do you know that? Show us where his treasure is."
So I showed them where it was and they brought out seven chests filled with gold and silver. When they saw that they said: "By God, we will never bury him".
Then they crucified him and pelted him with stones.
[An important point to note here is that Salman did not turn away from what he thought was the truth at that time because of the actions of one person. He did not say, “Look at these Christians! The best of them is so evil!” Rather, he understood that he had to judge the religion by its beliefs, and not by its adherents.]
Then they brought another bishop and appointed him in his place. I have never seen a man who does not offer the five daily prayers who was better than him; he shunned this world and sought the Hereafter and no one strove harder than him night and day. I loved him as I had never loved anyone before, and I stayed with him for a while. Then when he was about to die, I said: "O So and so, I was with you and I loved you as I had never loved anyone before, and now the decree of God has come to you as you see; to whom do you advise me to go? What do you command me to do?"
He said: "O my son, by God, I do not know of anyone today who follows what I followed. The people are doomed; they have changed and abandoned most of what they used to follow, except for a man in Mosul (A major city in northwest Iraq). He is So and so, and he follows what I used to follow, so go and join him."
When he died and was buried, I went to the man in Mosul. I said to him: "O So and so, So and so advised me when he died to come to you, and he told me that you follow the same as he followed."
He said to me: "Stay with me."
So I stayed with him, and I found him to be a good man who followed the same as his companion had followed. But soon he died. When he was dying I said to him: "O So and so, So and so advised me to come to you and told me to join you, but now there has come to you from God what you see. To whom do you advise me to go? What do you command me to do?"
He said: "O my son, by God I do not know of anyone who follows what we used to follow except a man in Naseebeen (A city on the road between Al-Mosul and Al-Shaam). He is So and so; go to him."
When he died and was buried, I went to the man in Naseebeen. I came to him and told him my story and what my companion had told me to do. He said: "Stay with me."
So I stayed with him and I found him to be a follower of the same way as his two companions, and I stayed with a good man. By God, soon death came upon him, and when he was dying I said to him: O So and so, So and so advised me to go to So and so; then So and so advised me to come to you. To whom do you advise me to go and what do you command me to do?"
He said: "O my son, by God we do not know of anyone left who follows our way and to whom I can tell you to go, except a man in Amuria (A town that was part of the Eastern Region of the Roman Empire). He follows something like what we follow. If you wish, go to him, for he follows our way."
When he died and was buried, I went to the man in Amuria and told him my story. He said: "Stay with me."
So I stayed with a man who was following the same way as his companions. I earned wealth until I had cows and sheep, then the decree of God came to him. When he was dying I said to him: "O So and so, I was with So and so, and So and so told me to go to So and so; then So and so told me to go to So and so; then So and so told me to come to you. To whom do you advise me to go and what do you command me to do?"
He said: "O my son, by God, I do not know of anyone who follows our way to whom I can advise you to go. But there has come the time of a Prophet, who will be sent with the religion of Abraham. He will come from the land of Arabia and will migrate to a place located in between two lands filled with black rocks [as if burned by lava], between which there are palm trees. He will have characteristics that will not be hidden. He will eat of what is given as a gift but he will not eat of what is given as charity. Between his shoulder blades is the Seal of Prophethood. If you can go to that land then do so."
Then he died and was buried, and I stayed in Amuria as long as God willed I should stay, then some merchants of Kalb (An Arab tribe) passed by me and I said to them: "Will you take me to the land of the Arabs and I will give you these cows and sheep of mine?"
They said: "Yes."
So I gave them the cows and sheep, and they took me there, but when they brought me to Wadi al-Qura they wronged me and sold me as a slave to a Jewish man. When I was with him I saw the palm trees, and I hoped that this was the land that my companion had described to me, but I was not sure. While I was with him, a cousin of his from Banu Qurayzah came to him from Medinah, and he sold me to him, and he took me to Medinah. By God, as soon as I saw it, I recognized it from the description given to me by my companion. I stayed there, and God sent His Messenger, who stayed in Mecca as long as he stayed, and I did not hear anything about him because I was so busy with the work of a slave. Then he migrated to Medinah, and by God, I was at the top of a palm tree belonging to my master, doing some work on it, and my master was sitting there. Then a cousin of his came and stood beside him, and said:
"May Allah kill Bani Qeelah! (People of the tribe Qeelah). By Allah, right now they are gathering in Qibaa! (The outskirts of Medinah) to welcome a man who has come from Mecca today, and they say that he is a Prophet."
When I heard that, I began to shiver so much that I thought I would fall on top of my master. I came down from the tree and started saying to that cousin of his: "What are you saying, what are you saying?"
My master got angry and he struck me with his fist and said: "What has it got to do with you? Go back to your work!"
I said: "Nothing; I just wanted to make sure of what he was saying."
I had some food that I had collected, and when evening came, I went to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) when he was in Qibaa, and I entered upon him and said to him: "I have heard that you are a righteous man and that you have companions who are strangers and are in need. This is something that I have to give in charity, and I see that you are more in need of it than anyone else. I brought it near to him and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said to his companions: “Eat,” but he refrained from eating.
I said to myself: "This is one."
Then I went away and collected some more. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) moved to Medina, then I came to him and said: "I see that you do not eat (food given in) charity; this is a gift with which I wish to honour you."
The Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) ate some of it and told his companions to eat too. I said to myself: "This is two."
Then I came to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) when he was in Baqee’ al-Gharqad (a grave yard in Medina) , where he had attended the funeral of one of his companions and he was wearing two shawls and was sitting among his companions. I greeted him with salaam then I moved behind him, trying to look at his back to see the Seal that my companion had described to me. When the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) saw me going behind him, he realized that I was trying to find confirmation of something that had been described to me, so he let his shawl drop from his back, and I saw the Seal and recognized it. Then I embraced him, kissing (the Seal) and weeping, and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said to me: “Turn around.”
So I turned around and I told him my story as I have told it to you, O Ibn ‘Abbaas. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) wanted his companions to hear my story.
THE EMANCIPATION
Then Salman was kept busy with the work of a slave, until he had missed attending Badr and Uhud with the Prophet. He said: Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said to me: “Draw up a contract of manumission, O Salman.”
So I drew up a contract of manumission with my master in return for three hundred palm trees which I would plant for him, and forty ounces of gold. The Prophet said to his companions: “Help your brother.”
So they helped me with the palm trees, one man gave thirty small trees and another gave twenty, and another gave fifteen, and another gave ten, i.e., each man gave according to what he had, until they had collected three hundred small trees for me. Then the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said to me: “Go, O Salman, and dig the holes where they are to be planted. When you have finished, come to me and I will plant them with my own hand.”
So I dug the holes for them, and my companions helped me, then when I had finished, I came to him and told him. The Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) came out with me and we started to bring the trees close and the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) planted them with his own hand. By the One in Whose hand is the soul of Salman, not one single tree among them died. Salman gave the trees to his master but there still remained the money. A piece of gold the size of an egg was brought to the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) from one of his campaigns. He said: “What happened to the Persian who had a contract of manumission?”
I was summoned to him and he said: “Take this and pay off what you owe, O Salman.”
I said: "How could this pay off everything I owe, O Messenger of Allah?"
He said: “Take it, and Allah will help you to pay off what you owe.” This was one of the miracles the Prophet performed by the leave of God.
So I took it and weighed it for them, and by the One in Whose hand is the soul of Salman, it was forty ounces of gold, so I paid them their dues and I was set free. I was present with the Messenger of God (peace and blessings of God be upon him) at al-Khandaq, and after that I did not miss any major event with him.
THE SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH
One of the great companions of the Prophet by the name of Abu Hurairah reported:
“We were sitting in the company of God’s Messenger when Surah al-Jumuah (Quran chapter 62) was revealed. He recited these words:
“And [God has sent Muhammad also to] others who have not yet joined them (but they will come)…” (Quran 62:3)
A person among them said, ‘O God’s Messenger! Who are those who have not joined us?’
God’s Messenger made no reply. Salman the Persian was among us. The Messenger of God placed his hand on Salman and then said, ‘By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, even if faith were near Pleiades (the seven stars), men from among these [i.e. Salman’s folk] would surely attain it.”
Many in this world are like Salman, searching for the truth about the True and Only One God. This story of Salman is similar to stories of people in our own time. The search of some people took them from one church to another, from church to Buddhism or Passiveness, from Judaism to ‘Neutrality’, from religion to meditations to mental abuse. There are those who shifted from one idea to another, but don’t even think of wanting to know something about Islam! When they met some Muslims, however, they opened their minds. The story of Salman is that of a long search. You could make your search for truth shorter by benefiting from his.
Read more about Salman the Persian in the next article which I am to post next Friday if God is willing.
Saturday 18 February 2017
THE STORY OF AN EARLY CHRISTIAN: THE NEGUS, KING OF ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia is a country in Africa that most of us know very little about. All you know about it is severe famine and poverty. The region that we now call Ethiopia was once known as Abyssinia. It was also previously known as the Kingdom of Axum, and named by Mani (216–276 CE) as one of the four great powers of his time along with Persia, Rome, and China. Axum remained a strong empire and trading power until the rise of Islam in the 7th century. However, unlike the relations between the Islamic powers and Christian Europe, Axum was on good terms with its Islamic neighbours. For Muslims, Ethiopia is synonymous with freedom from persecution and fear.
In the early years of Islam the Muslims were persecuted and tortured by the ruling families of Mecca. There were even people who mistreated members of their own families. Among the new converts to Islam were the poor and the weak who were made to endure pain and hunger all because they believed in One God. In order to protect them and their new found religion Prophet Muhammad sent about 80 people, including one of his own daughters, to Ethiopia. This event is known as the first Hijrah (migration).
The King of Ethiopia, sometimes known as the Negus and possibly one of the last rulers of the Axum Empire was known as a just and truthful man. He was a Christian with deep religious convictions. Prophet Muhammad believed that his followers would be well looked after if they migrated to a country whose religion was based on the teachings of Prophet Jesus, son of Mary and that the King of Ethiopia, being a devout Christian, would give his people sanctuary and treat them with compassion. The migrants set off on their hazardous journey carrying with them a letter of introduction for the King. What follows is a translation of that letter:
{I begin with the Name of God, the Most Merciful, Most Gracious, From Muhammad, the Messenger of God to the Negus Al-Asham, king of Abyssinia.
Peace be upon you, I praise God and I bear witness that Jesus, son of Mary, is the slave of God. He was created by the command of God and Mary the virgin, the good, the pure, conceived Jesus. As God created Adam, He created Jesus. I call you to God, the Unique without partner, and to His obedience, and to follow me and believe in that which came to me, for I am the Messenger of God.
I send to you my cousin Jafar with a number of Muslims, and when they come, I ask you to entertain and receive them. Peace be upon all those who follow True Guidance.}
When the rulers of Mecca heard about the migration they hastened to send their own emissaries to the Ethiopian court. It was their fear that if such a ruler welcomed the Muslims it would give credence to the new religion and legitimize their beliefs. They planned to convince the King to expel the Muslims by giving him gifts, and by spreading gossip and slander about the new religion and the immigrants. However the King was a wise, noble and just man and was prepared to meet and hear both groups.
The two Meccan delegates reiterated their accusations. They said, “Your Majesty, you well know that a group of fools have turned renegade and have taken asylum in your country. They did not embrace your religion, but rather invented their own religion that neither of us knows. We are people of high rank who are related to their fathers, uncles, and tribes, and ask that you would surrender these wretched renegades to us”.
The King then asked the group of Muslims why they had chosen this new religion rather than adhere to the religion of their forefathers or embrace the established religion of Christianity. Jafar, the son of Abu Talib and thus Prophet Muhammad’s cousin, rose to speak on behalf of the immigrants and Islam. He said:
"O your Majesty, we used to be a people of ignorance. We worshipped idols, ate dead animals, committed great sins, severed family relations, and the strong among us abused the weak. We were like that until God sent from among us a Prophet who was known for his noble descent, honesty, trustworthiness, and decency. He invited us to worship God alone and abstain from worshipping stones and idols. He ordered us to speak nothing but the truth and to render back our trusts to those to whom they are due. Moreover, he ordered us to keep our ties of kinship intact, be good to our neighbours, and abstain from what is forbidden. He also ordered us not to commit evil, nor to say false statements, nor to eat up the property of orphans, nor to accuse chaste women of wrong-doing without proof or witness. He has commanded us to worship God alone and not to associate anything with Him and to pray, give charity and fast.
Hence, we believed in him and in God's message to him. We worshipped God alone. We rejected that which we used to associate with Him as His partners. We consider unlawful what he has told us is unlawful and lawful what he has told us is lawful. For this reason alone our people have attacked us, tortured us and forced us from our religion. They intend to make us revert to the worship of idols instead of praising God. They want us to consider lawful the evil actions which we used to do in the past. When they tortured us and hemmed us in, and came between us and our religion, we left for your kingdom, choosing you because we need your protection. We hope that we would be treated fairly while we are with you, O King!"
The King listened to this exchange with patience and attention, when both the Meccans and the Muslims had spoken he turned to Jafar and said, “Do you have with you anything sent down from God to your Prophet?”
Jafar recited the opening verses of chapter Maryam, named in honour of the mother of Jesus. The following is a small portion of Maryam:
(The angel) said: “I am only a messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son.” She said: “How can I have a son, when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste?” He said: “So it will be, your Lord said: ‘That is easy for Me (God): And We wish to appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (God), and it is a matter already decreed.’ “So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place (i.e. Bethlehem valley).” (Quran 19:19-22)
The King and those with him were moved to tears. Silent tears rolled down their cheeks and soaked into their beards. The sublime words of Quran melted their hearts, as it had already begun to do in Mecca. Interestingly most of the people at the Ethiopian court would not have understood Arabic, yet the eloquence and subtlety of Quran moved them. The words were then translated for them. At this point in the story it is fascinating to realise that God described the Christians as those whose tears overflow when they hear the truth.
"And when they who call themselves Christians listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognised. They say: “Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses”.(Quran 5:83)
The King was overcome, and exclaimed, “It appears that these words and those that were revealed to Jesus are from the same source.”
Turning to the Meccan envoys he said, “I will not hand these refugees over to you. They are free to live and worship as they please under my protection”.
This did not please or satisfy the Meccans. Their mission was to discredit the Muslims and thus the religion of Islam. The Meccans moved forward with another plan to destroy the fledging religion, in a pathetic attempt to influence the King. They declared that the Muslims spoke disrespectfully about Jesus!
After hearing Quran it is unlikely that the King gave their assertion very much credit, however he called the Muslims back into his presence and asked about their belief in Jesus.
Jafar answered truthfully and immediately: “Our belief in Jesus relies on what our prophet has told us about him; Jesus is God’s servant and messenger who was created by the command of God".
On hearing this, the King declared that this description of Jesus did not differ from their own Christian belief. The result was that the Meccans left Ethiopia in disgrace, while the Muslims lived in peace and security for several years before they returned to Mecca.
Several years later Prophet Muhammad wrote letters to different rulers throughout the world inviting them to accept Islam as their religion. He again wrote another letter to the King of Ethiopia. What follows is an approximate translation of that letter:
{I begin with the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious. From Muhammad, the Messenger of God, to the King of Ethiopia.
Peace is for the one who follows the right guidance and believes in God and His Messenger. I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah. He is one and has no partners. He has neither mate nor child. And Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
I call you to accept Islam. I call both you and your army towards God, Who is worthy of all respect and esteem. I have thus discharged my duty of conveying His message and advice. You should accept it. May peace be upon the followers of the guidance.
“O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians): come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but God (alone), and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides God.” (Quran 3:64)}
The king received the letter with great respect and he accepted Islam, despite the objection of his family and the Church. He replied to the letter saying, “O Prophet of God, I had the honour of seeing your esteemed letter. I swear by God, that Jesus is nothing more than what you have described. I bear evidence that you are a true Prophet of God and I have taken an oath of allegiance to God and His prophet. If you will so order, I will present myself to you. May peace and blessings of God be upon you”.
The proof of the King's conversion can be found in the story of Umm Habiba Ramla, may God be pleased with her. She was the daughter of Abu Sufyan, who for some of his life was one of the most resolute enemies of the Prophet spending much of his great wealth in opposing the Muslims, and leading the armies of the non-believers against the Muslims in all the early major battles, including the battles of Badr, Uhud and al-Khandaq. Indeed it was not until the conquest of Mecca, when the Prophet generously pardoned him, that Abu Sufyan embraced Islam and began to fight with the Muslims instead of against them.
Umm Habiba and her first husband, who was called Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh, the brother of Zaynab bint Jahsh, were among the first people to embrace Islam in Mecca, and they were among those early Muslims who emigrated to Ethiopia in order to be safe. Once in Ethiopia, however, Ubaydullah abandoned Islam and became a Christian. He tried to make Umm Habiba become Christian, but she stood fast. This put her in a difficult position, since a Muslim woman can only be married to a Muslim man. She could no longer live with her husband, and once they had been divorced, she could not return to her father, who was still busy fighting the Muslims. So she remained with her daughter in Abyssinia, living a very simple life in isolation, waiting to see what God would decree for her.
One day, as Umm Habiba sat in her solitary room, a stranger in a strange land far from her home, a maidservant knocked on her door and said that she had been sent by the Negus who had a message for her. The message was that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had asked for her hand in marriage, and that if she accepted this proposal that she was to name one of the Muslims in Ethiopia as her wakil, so that the marriage ceremony could take place in Ethiopia even though she was not in the same place as the Prophet. Naturally Umm Habiba was overjoyed and accepted immediately. "Allah has given you good news! Allah has given you good news!" she cried, pulling off what little jewelry she had and giving it to the smiling girl. She asked her to repeat the message three times since she could hardly believe her ears.
Soon after this, all the Muslims who had sought refuge in Ethiopia were summoned to the palace of the Negus to witness the simple marriage ceremony in which Khalid ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, acted as the wakil on behalf of Umm Habiba. When the marriage was finalized, the Negus addressed the gathering with these words:
"I praise Allah, the Holy, and I declare that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger and that He gave the good news to Jesus the son of Mary.
"The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) requested me to conclude the marriage contract between him and Umm Habiba, the daughter of Abu Sufyan. I agreed to do what he requested, and on his behalf I give her a dowry of four hundred gold dinars."
The Negus handed over the amount to Khalid ibn Sa'id who stood up and said:
"All praise is due to Allah. I praise Him and I seek His help and forgiveness and I turn to Him in repentance. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger whom He has sent with the religion of guidance and truth so that it may prevail over all other religions, however much those who reject dislike this. "I agreed to do what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) requested and acted as the wakil on behalf of Umm Habiba, the daughter of Abu Sufyan. May Allah bless His Messenger and his wife. Congratulations to Umm Habiba for the goodness which Allah has decreed for her."
Khalid took the dowry and handed it over to Umm Habiba. Thus although she could not travel to Arabia straight away, she was provided for by the Prophet from the moment that they were married. The Muslims who had witnessed the marriage contract were just about to leave, when the Negus said to them, "Sit down, for it is the practice of the Prophets to serve food at marriages."
Joyfully everyone sat down again to eat and celebrate the happy occasion. Umm Habiba especially could hardly believe her good fortune, and she later described how eager she was to share her happiness, saying: "When I received the money as my dowry, I sent fifty mithqals of gold to the servant girl who had first brought me the good news, and I said to her, 'I gave you what I did when you gave me the good news because at that time I did not have any money at all.'
"Shortly afterwards, she came to me and returned the gold. She also produced a case which contained the necklace I had given to her and gave it to me, saying, 'The Negus has instructed me not to take anything from you, and he has commanded the women in his household to present you with gifts of perfume.'
"On the following day, she brought me ambergris, saffron and aloes wood oil and said, 'I have a favor to ask of you.'
'"What is it?' I asked.
'"I have accepted Islam,' she replied, 'and now I follow the way of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Please convey my greetings of peace to him, and let him know that I believe in Allah and His Prophet. Please do not forget.'"
Therefore, we place great credence in this final chapter of the story of the King of Ethiopia. When it was revealed to the Prophet that the King, whom he had never met, had passed away, the Prophet offered the first funeral prayer in absentia for him.
The story of the King of Ethiopia is a small snapshot in time. It teaches us about the manners and diplomacy between Prophet Muhammad and the noble rulers of the time. It shines a light on the closeness of the two religions, Christianity and Islam. The truly humble Christians were, and still are, but a step away from the religion of Islam. The eloquence of Quran is able to penetrate the hearts of whomever God chooses to guide and the religion of Islam is open to all, king or commoner, rich or poor, black or white.
Peace be upon those who acknowledge the truth from their Lord.
In the early years of Islam the Muslims were persecuted and tortured by the ruling families of Mecca. There were even people who mistreated members of their own families. Among the new converts to Islam were the poor and the weak who were made to endure pain and hunger all because they believed in One God. In order to protect them and their new found religion Prophet Muhammad sent about 80 people, including one of his own daughters, to Ethiopia. This event is known as the first Hijrah (migration).
The King of Ethiopia, sometimes known as the Negus and possibly one of the last rulers of the Axum Empire was known as a just and truthful man. He was a Christian with deep religious convictions. Prophet Muhammad believed that his followers would be well looked after if they migrated to a country whose religion was based on the teachings of Prophet Jesus, son of Mary and that the King of Ethiopia, being a devout Christian, would give his people sanctuary and treat them with compassion. The migrants set off on their hazardous journey carrying with them a letter of introduction for the King. What follows is a translation of that letter:
{I begin with the Name of God, the Most Merciful, Most Gracious, From Muhammad, the Messenger of God to the Negus Al-Asham, king of Abyssinia.
Peace be upon you, I praise God and I bear witness that Jesus, son of Mary, is the slave of God. He was created by the command of God and Mary the virgin, the good, the pure, conceived Jesus. As God created Adam, He created Jesus. I call you to God, the Unique without partner, and to His obedience, and to follow me and believe in that which came to me, for I am the Messenger of God.
I send to you my cousin Jafar with a number of Muslims, and when they come, I ask you to entertain and receive them. Peace be upon all those who follow True Guidance.}
When the rulers of Mecca heard about the migration they hastened to send their own emissaries to the Ethiopian court. It was their fear that if such a ruler welcomed the Muslims it would give credence to the new religion and legitimize their beliefs. They planned to convince the King to expel the Muslims by giving him gifts, and by spreading gossip and slander about the new religion and the immigrants. However the King was a wise, noble and just man and was prepared to meet and hear both groups.
The two Meccan delegates reiterated their accusations. They said, “Your Majesty, you well know that a group of fools have turned renegade and have taken asylum in your country. They did not embrace your religion, but rather invented their own religion that neither of us knows. We are people of high rank who are related to their fathers, uncles, and tribes, and ask that you would surrender these wretched renegades to us”.
The King then asked the group of Muslims why they had chosen this new religion rather than adhere to the religion of their forefathers or embrace the established religion of Christianity. Jafar, the son of Abu Talib and thus Prophet Muhammad’s cousin, rose to speak on behalf of the immigrants and Islam. He said:
"O your Majesty, we used to be a people of ignorance. We worshipped idols, ate dead animals, committed great sins, severed family relations, and the strong among us abused the weak. We were like that until God sent from among us a Prophet who was known for his noble descent, honesty, trustworthiness, and decency. He invited us to worship God alone and abstain from worshipping stones and idols. He ordered us to speak nothing but the truth and to render back our trusts to those to whom they are due. Moreover, he ordered us to keep our ties of kinship intact, be good to our neighbours, and abstain from what is forbidden. He also ordered us not to commit evil, nor to say false statements, nor to eat up the property of orphans, nor to accuse chaste women of wrong-doing without proof or witness. He has commanded us to worship God alone and not to associate anything with Him and to pray, give charity and fast.
Hence, we believed in him and in God's message to him. We worshipped God alone. We rejected that which we used to associate with Him as His partners. We consider unlawful what he has told us is unlawful and lawful what he has told us is lawful. For this reason alone our people have attacked us, tortured us and forced us from our religion. They intend to make us revert to the worship of idols instead of praising God. They want us to consider lawful the evil actions which we used to do in the past. When they tortured us and hemmed us in, and came between us and our religion, we left for your kingdom, choosing you because we need your protection. We hope that we would be treated fairly while we are with you, O King!"
The King listened to this exchange with patience and attention, when both the Meccans and the Muslims had spoken he turned to Jafar and said, “Do you have with you anything sent down from God to your Prophet?”
Jafar recited the opening verses of chapter Maryam, named in honour of the mother of Jesus. The following is a small portion of Maryam:
(The angel) said: “I am only a messenger from your Lord, (to announce) to you the gift of a righteous son.” She said: “How can I have a son, when no man has touched me, nor am I unchaste?” He said: “So it will be, your Lord said: ‘That is easy for Me (God): And We wish to appoint him as a sign to mankind and a mercy from Us (God), and it is a matter already decreed.’ “So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a far place (i.e. Bethlehem valley).” (Quran 19:19-22)
The King and those with him were moved to tears. Silent tears rolled down their cheeks and soaked into their beards. The sublime words of Quran melted their hearts, as it had already begun to do in Mecca. Interestingly most of the people at the Ethiopian court would not have understood Arabic, yet the eloquence and subtlety of Quran moved them. The words were then translated for them. At this point in the story it is fascinating to realise that God described the Christians as those whose tears overflow when they hear the truth.
"And when they who call themselves Christians listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of the truth they have recognised. They say: “Our Lord! We believe; so write us down among the witnesses”.(Quran 5:83)
Turning to the Meccan envoys he said, “I will not hand these refugees over to you. They are free to live and worship as they please under my protection”.
This did not please or satisfy the Meccans. Their mission was to discredit the Muslims and thus the religion of Islam. The Meccans moved forward with another plan to destroy the fledging religion, in a pathetic attempt to influence the King. They declared that the Muslims spoke disrespectfully about Jesus!
After hearing Quran it is unlikely that the King gave their assertion very much credit, however he called the Muslims back into his presence and asked about their belief in Jesus.
Jafar answered truthfully and immediately: “Our belief in Jesus relies on what our prophet has told us about him; Jesus is God’s servant and messenger who was created by the command of God".
On hearing this, the King declared that this description of Jesus did not differ from their own Christian belief. The result was that the Meccans left Ethiopia in disgrace, while the Muslims lived in peace and security for several years before they returned to Mecca.
Several years later Prophet Muhammad wrote letters to different rulers throughout the world inviting them to accept Islam as their religion. He again wrote another letter to the King of Ethiopia. What follows is an approximate translation of that letter:
{I begin with the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious. From Muhammad, the Messenger of God, to the King of Ethiopia.
Peace is for the one who follows the right guidance and believes in God and His Messenger. I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship but Allah. He is one and has no partners. He has neither mate nor child. And Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
I call you to accept Islam. I call both you and your army towards God, Who is worthy of all respect and esteem. I have thus discharged my duty of conveying His message and advice. You should accept it. May peace be upon the followers of the guidance.
“O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians): come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but God (alone), and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides God.” (Quran 3:64)}
The king received the letter with great respect and he accepted Islam, despite the objection of his family and the Church. He replied to the letter saying, “O Prophet of God, I had the honour of seeing your esteemed letter. I swear by God, that Jesus is nothing more than what you have described. I bear evidence that you are a true Prophet of God and I have taken an oath of allegiance to God and His prophet. If you will so order, I will present myself to you. May peace and blessings of God be upon you”.
The proof of the King's conversion can be found in the story of Umm Habiba Ramla, may God be pleased with her. She was the daughter of Abu Sufyan, who for some of his life was one of the most resolute enemies of the Prophet spending much of his great wealth in opposing the Muslims, and leading the armies of the non-believers against the Muslims in all the early major battles, including the battles of Badr, Uhud and al-Khandaq. Indeed it was not until the conquest of Mecca, when the Prophet generously pardoned him, that Abu Sufyan embraced Islam and began to fight with the Muslims instead of against them.
Umm Habiba and her first husband, who was called Ubaydullah ibn Jahsh, the brother of Zaynab bint Jahsh, were among the first people to embrace Islam in Mecca, and they were among those early Muslims who emigrated to Ethiopia in order to be safe. Once in Ethiopia, however, Ubaydullah abandoned Islam and became a Christian. He tried to make Umm Habiba become Christian, but she stood fast. This put her in a difficult position, since a Muslim woman can only be married to a Muslim man. She could no longer live with her husband, and once they had been divorced, she could not return to her father, who was still busy fighting the Muslims. So she remained with her daughter in Abyssinia, living a very simple life in isolation, waiting to see what God would decree for her.
One day, as Umm Habiba sat in her solitary room, a stranger in a strange land far from her home, a maidservant knocked on her door and said that she had been sent by the Negus who had a message for her. The message was that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had asked for her hand in marriage, and that if she accepted this proposal that she was to name one of the Muslims in Ethiopia as her wakil, so that the marriage ceremony could take place in Ethiopia even though she was not in the same place as the Prophet. Naturally Umm Habiba was overjoyed and accepted immediately. "Allah has given you good news! Allah has given you good news!" she cried, pulling off what little jewelry she had and giving it to the smiling girl. She asked her to repeat the message three times since she could hardly believe her ears.
Soon after this, all the Muslims who had sought refuge in Ethiopia were summoned to the palace of the Negus to witness the simple marriage ceremony in which Khalid ibn Sa'id ibn al-As, acted as the wakil on behalf of Umm Habiba. When the marriage was finalized, the Negus addressed the gathering with these words:
"I praise Allah, the Holy, and I declare that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger and that He gave the good news to Jesus the son of Mary.
"The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) requested me to conclude the marriage contract between him and Umm Habiba, the daughter of Abu Sufyan. I agreed to do what he requested, and on his behalf I give her a dowry of four hundred gold dinars."
The Negus handed over the amount to Khalid ibn Sa'id who stood up and said:
"All praise is due to Allah. I praise Him and I seek His help and forgiveness and I turn to Him in repentance. I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger whom He has sent with the religion of guidance and truth so that it may prevail over all other religions, however much those who reject dislike this. "I agreed to do what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) requested and acted as the wakil on behalf of Umm Habiba, the daughter of Abu Sufyan. May Allah bless His Messenger and his wife. Congratulations to Umm Habiba for the goodness which Allah has decreed for her."
Khalid took the dowry and handed it over to Umm Habiba. Thus although she could not travel to Arabia straight away, she was provided for by the Prophet from the moment that they were married. The Muslims who had witnessed the marriage contract were just about to leave, when the Negus said to them, "Sit down, for it is the practice of the Prophets to serve food at marriages."
Joyfully everyone sat down again to eat and celebrate the happy occasion. Umm Habiba especially could hardly believe her good fortune, and she later described how eager she was to share her happiness, saying: "When I received the money as my dowry, I sent fifty mithqals of gold to the servant girl who had first brought me the good news, and I said to her, 'I gave you what I did when you gave me the good news because at that time I did not have any money at all.'
"Shortly afterwards, she came to me and returned the gold. She also produced a case which contained the necklace I had given to her and gave it to me, saying, 'The Negus has instructed me not to take anything from you, and he has commanded the women in his household to present you with gifts of perfume.'
"On the following day, she brought me ambergris, saffron and aloes wood oil and said, 'I have a favor to ask of you.'
'"What is it?' I asked.
'"I have accepted Islam,' she replied, 'and now I follow the way of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Please convey my greetings of peace to him, and let him know that I believe in Allah and His Prophet. Please do not forget.'"
Therefore, we place great credence in this final chapter of the story of the King of Ethiopia. When it was revealed to the Prophet that the King, whom he had never met, had passed away, the Prophet offered the first funeral prayer in absentia for him.
The story of the King of Ethiopia is a small snapshot in time. It teaches us about the manners and diplomacy between Prophet Muhammad and the noble rulers of the time. It shines a light on the closeness of the two religions, Christianity and Islam. The truly humble Christians were, and still are, but a step away from the religion of Islam. The eloquence of Quran is able to penetrate the hearts of whomever God chooses to guide and the religion of Islam is open to all, king or commoner, rich or poor, black or white.
Peace be upon those who acknowledge the truth from their Lord.
Saturday 11 February 2017
RAPHAEL NARBAEZ, JR., JEHOVAH’S WITNESS MINISTER, USA
"I'm like a man without a religion. I was not a man without a God. But where could I go?"
A forty-two-year-old Latino, Raphael, is a Los Angeles-based comic and lecturer. He was born in Texas where he attended his first Jehovah’s Witness meeting at age six. He gave his first Bible sermon [soon after the age of thirteen], tended his own congregation at twenty, and was headed for a position of leadership among the 904,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States. But he traded in his Bible for a Quran after having braved a visit to a local mosque.
On November 1, 1991, he embraced Islam, bringing to the Muslim community the organizational and speaking skills he developed among Jehovah’s Witnesses. He speaks with the urgency of a new convert, but one who can make immigrant Muslims laugh at themselves.
He told his story mimicking a cast of characters.
I remember vividly being in a discussion where we were all sitting in my parents’ living room and there were some other Jehovah’s Witnesses there. They were talking about : “It’s Armageddon! The time of the end! And Christ is coming! And you know the hailstones are going to be out here as big as cars! God is going to use all kinds of things to destroy this wicked system and remove the governments! And the Bible talks about the earth opening up! It’s going to swallow whole city blocks!”
I’m scared to death! And then my mother turned around: “See what’s going to happen to you if you don’t get baptized, and if you don’t do God’s will? The earth is going to swallow you up, or one of these huge hailstones is going to hit you on the head [klonk], knock you out, and you will not exist ever again. I’ll have to make another child.”
I wasn’t going to take a chance of being hit by one of those big hailstones. So I got baptized. And of course Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in the sprinkling of the water. They submerge you completely, hold you there for a second, and then bring you back up.
I did that at the age of thirteen, September 7, 1963, in Pasadena, California, at the Rose Bowl. It was a big international assembly. We had 100,000 people. We drove all the way from Lubbock, Texas.
Eventually I started giving bigger talks - ten minutes in front of the congregation. A circuit servant recommended me to give the hour lectures that are done on Sunday when they invite the general public. They usually reserved those [sermons] for the elders of the congregation.
[In an authoritarian voice:] “Sure he’s young. But he can handle it. He’s a good Christian boy. He has no vices, and he’s obedient to his parents and seems to have pretty good Bible knowledge.”
So at the age of sixteen I started giving hour lectures in front of whole congregations. I was assigned first to a group in Sweetwater, Texas, and then, eventually, in Brownfield, Texas, I got my first congregation. At age twenty, I had become what they call a pioneer minister.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have a very sophisticated training program, and they also have kind of a quota system. You have to devote ten to twelve hours a month to door-to-door preaching. It’s like sales management. IBM has nothing on these guys.
So when I became a pioneer minister, I devoted most of my full time to doing the door-to-door ministry. I had to do like 100 hours a month, and I had to have seven Bible studies. I started lecturing other congregations. I began to get a lot of responsibility, and I was accepted at a school in Brooklyn, New York, a very elite school that Jehovah’s Witnesses have for the crème de la crème, the top one percent. But I didn’t go.
A few things no longer made sense to me. For example, the quota system. It seemed like every time I wanted to turn a corner and get into another position of responsibility, I had to do these secular material things to prove my godliness. It’s like if you meet your quotas this month, God loves you. If you don’t meet your quotas next month, God doesn’t love you. That didn’t make very much sense. One month God loves me and one month He doesn’t?
We criticized the Catholic Church because they had a man, a priest, to whom they had to confess. And we’d say, “You shouldn’t have to go to a man to confess your sins! Your sin is against God!” And yet we went to a Body of Elders. You confessed your sins to them, and they put you on hold, and said [Elder as telephone operator:] “Hold on just a minute . . . What do you think, Lord? No? . . . Okay, I’m sorry, we tried our best but you’re not repentant enough. Your sin is too big, so you either lose your fellowship in the church or you’re going to be on probation.”
If the sin is against God, shouldn’t I directly go to God and beg for mercy?
Probably the nail that hit the coffin was that I noticed that they started reading their Bible less. Jehovah’s Witnesses have books for everything that is put out by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The only people on the entire planet who know how to interpret Bible Scripture correctly are that group of men, that committee in Brooklyn, who tell Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide how to dress, how to talk, what to say, what not to say, how to apply Scripture and what the future is going to be like. God told them, so they can tell us. I appreciated the books. But if the Bible is the book of knowledge, and if it’s God’s instructions, well, shouldn’t we get our answers out of the Bible? Paul himself said to find out for yourself what is a true and acceptable word of God. Don’t let men tickle your ears.
I started saying, “Don’t worry so much about what the Watchtower says - read the Bible for yourself.” Ears started to prick up.
[Old Southerner’s drawl:] “I think we got us an apostate here, Judge. Yup. I think this old boy’s one taco short of something.”
Even my father said, “You better watch it, young man, that’s the demons talking right there. That’s the demons trying to get in and cause division.”
I said, “Dad, it’s not the demons. People don’t need to read so much of these other publications. They can find their answers with prayer and in the Bible.”
Spiritually I no longer felt at ease. So in 1979, knowing that I could not make headway, I left, disgruntled and with a bad taste in my mouth, because all my life I had put my soul, my heart, my mind into the church. That was the problem. I didn’t put it in God. I put it in a man-made organization.
I can’t go to other religions. As a Jehovah’s Witness, I had been trained, through the Scriptures, to show that they are all wrong. That idolatry is bad. The Trinity doesn’t exist.
I’m like a man without a religion. I was not a man without a God. But where could I go?
In 1985, I decided to come to Los Angeles and get on the Johnny Carson show and make my mark as a great comedian and actor. I have always felt like I was born for something. I didn’t know whether it was going to be finding the cure to cancer or becoming an actor. I kept praying and it got frustrating after a while.
So I just went to the Catholic Church close to my house, and I tried it. I remember on Ash Wednesday, I had that ash cross on my forehead. I was trying anything I could. I went for about two or three months, and I just couldn’t do it anymore, man. It was:
Stand up. Sit down.
Stand up. Sit down.
Okay, stick your tongue out.
You got a lot of exercise. I think I lost about five pounds. But that’s about it. So now I’m more lost than ever.
But it never passed through my mind that there is not a Creator. I have His phone number, but the line’s always busy. I’m doing my little movie shots. A film called Deadly Intent. A telephone commercial in Chicago. An Exxon commercial. A couple of bank commercials. In the meantime I’m doing construction work on the side.
His First Encounters with Muslims and the Faith, and Finally His Acceptance of Islam:
We’re working on this mall. It’s the holiday season, and they put these extra booths in the hallways. There was a gal at one, and we had to pass right in front of her. I’d say, “Good morning, how are you?” If she said anything, it was “Hi.” And that was it.
Finally, I said, “Miss, you never say anything. I just wanted to apologize if there was something I said wrong.”
She said, “No, you see, I’m a Muslim.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m a Muslim, and Muslim women, we don’t talk to men unless we have something specific to talk about; otherwise we don’t have anything to do with men.”
“Ohhhhh. Muslim.”
She said, “Yes, we practice the religion of Islam.”
“Islam - how do you spell that?”
“I-s-l-a-m.”
At the time, I knew that Muslims were all terrorists. She doesn’t even have a beard. How could she possibly be Muslim?
“How did this religion get started?”
“Well, there was a prophet.”
“A prophet?”
“Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him.”
I started some research. But I just came from one religion. I had no intention of becoming Muslim.
The holidays are over. The booth moves. She’s gone.
I continued to pray, and asked why my prayers weren’t being answered. In November of 1991, I was going to bring my uncle Rockie home from the hospital. I started to empty his drawers to pack his stuff and there was a Gideon Bible. I said, God has answered my prayers. This Gideon Bible. (Of course, they put it in every hotel room.) This is a sign from God that He’s ready to teach me. So I stole the Bible.
I went home and I started praying: O God, teach me to be a Christian. Don’t teach me the Jehovah’s Witness way. Don’t teach me the Catholic way. Teach me Your way! You would not have made this Bible so hard that ordinary people sincere in prayer could not understand it.
I got all the way through the New Testament. I started the Old Testament. Well, eventually there’s a part in the Bible about the prophets.
Bing!
I said, Wait a minute, that Muslim lady said they had a prophet. How come he’s not in here?
I started thinking, Muslims - one billion in the world. Man, one out of every five people on the street theoretically could be a Muslim. And I thought: One billion people! C’mon now, Satan is good. But he’s not that good.
So then I said, I’ll read their book, the Quran, and I’ll see what kind of pack of lies this thing is. It probably has an illustration on how to dissemble an AK-47. So I went to an Arabic bookstore.
They asked, “What can I help you with?”
“I’m looking for a Quran.”
“Okay, we have some over here.”
They had some very nice ones - thirty dollars, forty dollars.”
“Look, I just want to read it, I don’t want to become one, okay?”
“Okay, we have this little five-dollar paperback edition.”
I went home, and started reading my Quran from the beginning, with Al-Fatihah. And I could not get my eyes off of it.
Hey, look at this. It talks about a Noah in here. We have Noah in our Bible too. Hey, it talks about Lot and Abraham. I can’t believe it. I never knew Satan’s name was Iblees. Hey, how about that.
When you get that picture on your TV set and it’s got a little bit of static and you push that button [klop] - fine tune. That’s exactly what happened with the Quran.
I went through the whole thing. So I said, Okay, I’ve done this, now what’s the next thing you got to do? Well, you gotta go to their meeting place. I looked in the yellow pages, and I finally found it: Islamic Center of Southern California, on Vermont. I called and they said, “Come on Friday.”
Now I really start getting nervous, `cause now I know I’m going to have to confront Habib and his AK-47.
I want people to understand what it’s like for an American Christian coming into Islam. I’m kidding about the AK-47, but I don’t know if these guys have daggers under their coats, you know. So I come up to the front, and sure enough, there’s this six-foot-three, 240-pound brother, beard and everything, and I’m just in awe.
I walked up and said, “Excuse me, sir.”
[Arabic accent:] “Go to the back!”
He thought I was already a brother.
I said, “Yessir, yessir” [meekly].
I didn’t know what I was going back for, but I went back anyway. They had the tent and the rugs were out. I’m standing there, kind of shy, and people are sitting down listening to the lecture. And people are saying, Go ahead, brother, sit down. And I’m going, No, thanks, no, thanks, I’m just visiting.
So finally the lecture’s over. They’re all lined up for prayer and they go into sajdah. I was really taken aback.
It started making sense intellectually, in my muscles, in my bones, in my heart and my soul.
So prayers are over. I say, hey, who’s going to recognize me? So I start to mingle like I’m one of the brothers, and I’m walking into the mosque and a brother says, “Assalaamu alaikum.” And I thought, Did he say “salt and bacon”?
“Assalaamu alaikum.”
There’s another guy who said “salt and bacon” to me.
I didn’t know what in the world they were saying, but they all smiled.
Before one of these guys noticed that I was not supposed to be there and took me to the torture chamber, or beheaded me, I wanted to see as much as I could. So eventually I went to the library, and there was a young Egyptian brother; his name was Omar. God sent him to me.
Omar comes up to me, and he says, “Excuse me. This is your first time here?” He has a real strong accent.
And I said, Yeah, it is.
“Oh, very good. You are Muslim?”
“No, I’m just reading a little.”
“Oh, you are studying? This is your first visit to a mosque?”
“Yes.”
“Come, let me show you around.” And he grabs me by the hand, and I’m walking with another man - holding hands. I said, these Muslims are friendly.
So he shows me around.
“First of all, this is our prayer hall, and you take your shoes off right here.”
“What are these things?”
“These are little cubicles. That’s where you put your shoes.”
“Why?”
“Well, because you’re approaching the prayer area, and it’s very holy. You don’t go in there with your shoes on; it’s kept real clean.”
So he takes me to the men’s room.
“And right here, this is where we do wudoo.”
“Voodoo! I didn’t read anything about voodoo!”
“No, not voodoo. Wudoo!”
“Okay, because I saw that stuff with the dolls and the pins, and I’m just not ready for that kind of commitment yet.”
He says, “No, wudoo, that’s when we clean ourselves.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Well, when you pray to God, you have to be clean, so we wash our hands and feet.”
So I learned all these things. He let me go, and said, “Come back again.”
I went back and asked the librarian for a booklet on prayer, and I went home and practiced. I felt that if I was trying to do it right, God would accept it. I just continued to read and read and visit the mosque.
I had a commitment to go on a tour of the Midwest on a comedy circuit. Well, I took a prayer rug with me. I knew that I was supposed to pray at certain times, but there are certain places where you are not supposed to pray, one of which is in the bathroom. I went into a men’s room on a tourist stop and I laid out my carpet and I started doing my prayers.
I came back, and when Ramadan was over, I started getting calls from different parts of the country to go and lecture as a Jehovah’s Witness minister who embraced Islam. People find me a novelty.
Peace be upon those who follow the guidance of God rather than the guidance of men.
A forty-two-year-old Latino, Raphael, is a Los Angeles-based comic and lecturer. He was born in Texas where he attended his first Jehovah’s Witness meeting at age six. He gave his first Bible sermon [soon after the age of thirteen], tended his own congregation at twenty, and was headed for a position of leadership among the 904,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States. But he traded in his Bible for a Quran after having braved a visit to a local mosque.
On November 1, 1991, he embraced Islam, bringing to the Muslim community the organizational and speaking skills he developed among Jehovah’s Witnesses. He speaks with the urgency of a new convert, but one who can make immigrant Muslims laugh at themselves.
He told his story mimicking a cast of characters.
I remember vividly being in a discussion where we were all sitting in my parents’ living room and there were some other Jehovah’s Witnesses there. They were talking about : “It’s Armageddon! The time of the end! And Christ is coming! And you know the hailstones are going to be out here as big as cars! God is going to use all kinds of things to destroy this wicked system and remove the governments! And the Bible talks about the earth opening up! It’s going to swallow whole city blocks!”
I’m scared to death! And then my mother turned around: “See what’s going to happen to you if you don’t get baptized, and if you don’t do God’s will? The earth is going to swallow you up, or one of these huge hailstones is going to hit you on the head [klonk], knock you out, and you will not exist ever again. I’ll have to make another child.”
I wasn’t going to take a chance of being hit by one of those big hailstones. So I got baptized. And of course Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in the sprinkling of the water. They submerge you completely, hold you there for a second, and then bring you back up.
I did that at the age of thirteen, September 7, 1963, in Pasadena, California, at the Rose Bowl. It was a big international assembly. We had 100,000 people. We drove all the way from Lubbock, Texas.
Eventually I started giving bigger talks - ten minutes in front of the congregation. A circuit servant recommended me to give the hour lectures that are done on Sunday when they invite the general public. They usually reserved those [sermons] for the elders of the congregation.
[In an authoritarian voice:] “Sure he’s young. But he can handle it. He’s a good Christian boy. He has no vices, and he’s obedient to his parents and seems to have pretty good Bible knowledge.”
So at the age of sixteen I started giving hour lectures in front of whole congregations. I was assigned first to a group in Sweetwater, Texas, and then, eventually, in Brownfield, Texas, I got my first congregation. At age twenty, I had become what they call a pioneer minister.
Jehovah’s Witnesses have a very sophisticated training program, and they also have kind of a quota system. You have to devote ten to twelve hours a month to door-to-door preaching. It’s like sales management. IBM has nothing on these guys.
So when I became a pioneer minister, I devoted most of my full time to doing the door-to-door ministry. I had to do like 100 hours a month, and I had to have seven Bible studies. I started lecturing other congregations. I began to get a lot of responsibility, and I was accepted at a school in Brooklyn, New York, a very elite school that Jehovah’s Witnesses have for the crème de la crème, the top one percent. But I didn’t go.
A few things no longer made sense to me. For example, the quota system. It seemed like every time I wanted to turn a corner and get into another position of responsibility, I had to do these secular material things to prove my godliness. It’s like if you meet your quotas this month, God loves you. If you don’t meet your quotas next month, God doesn’t love you. That didn’t make very much sense. One month God loves me and one month He doesn’t?
We criticized the Catholic Church because they had a man, a priest, to whom they had to confess. And we’d say, “You shouldn’t have to go to a man to confess your sins! Your sin is against God!” And yet we went to a Body of Elders. You confessed your sins to them, and they put you on hold, and said [Elder as telephone operator:] “Hold on just a minute . . . What do you think, Lord? No? . . . Okay, I’m sorry, we tried our best but you’re not repentant enough. Your sin is too big, so you either lose your fellowship in the church or you’re going to be on probation.”
If the sin is against God, shouldn’t I directly go to God and beg for mercy?
Probably the nail that hit the coffin was that I noticed that they started reading their Bible less. Jehovah’s Witnesses have books for everything that is put out by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. The only people on the entire planet who know how to interpret Bible Scripture correctly are that group of men, that committee in Brooklyn, who tell Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide how to dress, how to talk, what to say, what not to say, how to apply Scripture and what the future is going to be like. God told them, so they can tell us. I appreciated the books. But if the Bible is the book of knowledge, and if it’s God’s instructions, well, shouldn’t we get our answers out of the Bible? Paul himself said to find out for yourself what is a true and acceptable word of God. Don’t let men tickle your ears.
I started saying, “Don’t worry so much about what the Watchtower says - read the Bible for yourself.” Ears started to prick up.
[Old Southerner’s drawl:] “I think we got us an apostate here, Judge. Yup. I think this old boy’s one taco short of something.”
Even my father said, “You better watch it, young man, that’s the demons talking right there. That’s the demons trying to get in and cause division.”
I said, “Dad, it’s not the demons. People don’t need to read so much of these other publications. They can find their answers with prayer and in the Bible.”
Spiritually I no longer felt at ease. So in 1979, knowing that I could not make headway, I left, disgruntled and with a bad taste in my mouth, because all my life I had put my soul, my heart, my mind into the church. That was the problem. I didn’t put it in God. I put it in a man-made organization.
I can’t go to other religions. As a Jehovah’s Witness, I had been trained, through the Scriptures, to show that they are all wrong. That idolatry is bad. The Trinity doesn’t exist.
I’m like a man without a religion. I was not a man without a God. But where could I go?
In 1985, I decided to come to Los Angeles and get on the Johnny Carson show and make my mark as a great comedian and actor. I have always felt like I was born for something. I didn’t know whether it was going to be finding the cure to cancer or becoming an actor. I kept praying and it got frustrating after a while.
So I just went to the Catholic Church close to my house, and I tried it. I remember on Ash Wednesday, I had that ash cross on my forehead. I was trying anything I could. I went for about two or three months, and I just couldn’t do it anymore, man. It was:
Stand up. Sit down.
Stand up. Sit down.
Okay, stick your tongue out.
You got a lot of exercise. I think I lost about five pounds. But that’s about it. So now I’m more lost than ever.
But it never passed through my mind that there is not a Creator. I have His phone number, but the line’s always busy. I’m doing my little movie shots. A film called Deadly Intent. A telephone commercial in Chicago. An Exxon commercial. A couple of bank commercials. In the meantime I’m doing construction work on the side.
His First Encounters with Muslims and the Faith, and Finally His Acceptance of Islam:
We’re working on this mall. It’s the holiday season, and they put these extra booths in the hallways. There was a gal at one, and we had to pass right in front of her. I’d say, “Good morning, how are you?” If she said anything, it was “Hi.” And that was it.
Finally, I said, “Miss, you never say anything. I just wanted to apologize if there was something I said wrong.”
She said, “No, you see, I’m a Muslim.”
“You’re what?”
“I’m a Muslim, and Muslim women, we don’t talk to men unless we have something specific to talk about; otherwise we don’t have anything to do with men.”
“Ohhhhh. Muslim.”
She said, “Yes, we practice the religion of Islam.”
“Islam - how do you spell that?”
“I-s-l-a-m.”
At the time, I knew that Muslims were all terrorists. She doesn’t even have a beard. How could she possibly be Muslim?
“How did this religion get started?”
“Well, there was a prophet.”
“A prophet?”
“Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him.”
I started some research. But I just came from one religion. I had no intention of becoming Muslim.
The holidays are over. The booth moves. She’s gone.
I continued to pray, and asked why my prayers weren’t being answered. In November of 1991, I was going to bring my uncle Rockie home from the hospital. I started to empty his drawers to pack his stuff and there was a Gideon Bible. I said, God has answered my prayers. This Gideon Bible. (Of course, they put it in every hotel room.) This is a sign from God that He’s ready to teach me. So I stole the Bible.
I went home and I started praying: O God, teach me to be a Christian. Don’t teach me the Jehovah’s Witness way. Don’t teach me the Catholic way. Teach me Your way! You would not have made this Bible so hard that ordinary people sincere in prayer could not understand it.
I got all the way through the New Testament. I started the Old Testament. Well, eventually there’s a part in the Bible about the prophets.
Bing!
I said, Wait a minute, that Muslim lady said they had a prophet. How come he’s not in here?
I started thinking, Muslims - one billion in the world. Man, one out of every five people on the street theoretically could be a Muslim. And I thought: One billion people! C’mon now, Satan is good. But he’s not that good.
So then I said, I’ll read their book, the Quran, and I’ll see what kind of pack of lies this thing is. It probably has an illustration on how to dissemble an AK-47. So I went to an Arabic bookstore.
They asked, “What can I help you with?”
“I’m looking for a Quran.”
“Okay, we have some over here.”
They had some very nice ones - thirty dollars, forty dollars.”
“Look, I just want to read it, I don’t want to become one, okay?”
“Okay, we have this little five-dollar paperback edition.”
I went home, and started reading my Quran from the beginning, with Al-Fatihah. And I could not get my eyes off of it.
Hey, look at this. It talks about a Noah in here. We have Noah in our Bible too. Hey, it talks about Lot and Abraham. I can’t believe it. I never knew Satan’s name was Iblees. Hey, how about that.
When you get that picture on your TV set and it’s got a little bit of static and you push that button [klop] - fine tune. That’s exactly what happened with the Quran.
I went through the whole thing. So I said, Okay, I’ve done this, now what’s the next thing you got to do? Well, you gotta go to their meeting place. I looked in the yellow pages, and I finally found it: Islamic Center of Southern California, on Vermont. I called and they said, “Come on Friday.”
Now I really start getting nervous, `cause now I know I’m going to have to confront Habib and his AK-47.
I want people to understand what it’s like for an American Christian coming into Islam. I’m kidding about the AK-47, but I don’t know if these guys have daggers under their coats, you know. So I come up to the front, and sure enough, there’s this six-foot-three, 240-pound brother, beard and everything, and I’m just in awe.
I walked up and said, “Excuse me, sir.”
[Arabic accent:] “Go to the back!”
He thought I was already a brother.
I said, “Yessir, yessir” [meekly].
I didn’t know what I was going back for, but I went back anyway. They had the tent and the rugs were out. I’m standing there, kind of shy, and people are sitting down listening to the lecture. And people are saying, Go ahead, brother, sit down. And I’m going, No, thanks, no, thanks, I’m just visiting.
So finally the lecture’s over. They’re all lined up for prayer and they go into sajdah. I was really taken aback.
It started making sense intellectually, in my muscles, in my bones, in my heart and my soul.
So prayers are over. I say, hey, who’s going to recognize me? So I start to mingle like I’m one of the brothers, and I’m walking into the mosque and a brother says, “Assalaamu alaikum.” And I thought, Did he say “salt and bacon”?
“Assalaamu alaikum.”
There’s another guy who said “salt and bacon” to me.
I didn’t know what in the world they were saying, but they all smiled.
Before one of these guys noticed that I was not supposed to be there and took me to the torture chamber, or beheaded me, I wanted to see as much as I could. So eventually I went to the library, and there was a young Egyptian brother; his name was Omar. God sent him to me.
Omar comes up to me, and he says, “Excuse me. This is your first time here?” He has a real strong accent.
And I said, Yeah, it is.
“Oh, very good. You are Muslim?”
“No, I’m just reading a little.”
“Oh, you are studying? This is your first visit to a mosque?”
“Yes.”
“Come, let me show you around.” And he grabs me by the hand, and I’m walking with another man - holding hands. I said, these Muslims are friendly.
So he shows me around.
“First of all, this is our prayer hall, and you take your shoes off right here.”
“What are these things?”
“These are little cubicles. That’s where you put your shoes.”
“Why?”
“Well, because you’re approaching the prayer area, and it’s very holy. You don’t go in there with your shoes on; it’s kept real clean.”
So he takes me to the men’s room.
“And right here, this is where we do wudoo.”
“Voodoo! I didn’t read anything about voodoo!”
“No, not voodoo. Wudoo!”
“Okay, because I saw that stuff with the dolls and the pins, and I’m just not ready for that kind of commitment yet.”
He says, “No, wudoo, that’s when we clean ourselves.”
“Why do you do that?”
“Well, when you pray to God, you have to be clean, so we wash our hands and feet.”
So I learned all these things. He let me go, and said, “Come back again.”
I went back and asked the librarian for a booklet on prayer, and I went home and practiced. I felt that if I was trying to do it right, God would accept it. I just continued to read and read and visit the mosque.
I had a commitment to go on a tour of the Midwest on a comedy circuit. Well, I took a prayer rug with me. I knew that I was supposed to pray at certain times, but there are certain places where you are not supposed to pray, one of which is in the bathroom. I went into a men’s room on a tourist stop and I laid out my carpet and I started doing my prayers.
I came back, and when Ramadan was over, I started getting calls from different parts of the country to go and lecture as a Jehovah’s Witness minister who embraced Islam. People find me a novelty.
Peace be upon those who follow the guidance of God rather than the guidance of men.
Saturday 4 February 2017
WHO ARE THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES? PART 3
A FLAWED BASIC CONCEPT
A comparison of Jehovah’s Witnesses beliefs and Islam.
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW’s) are a Christian denomination with many beliefs that stand out from mainstream Christianity. They are known for their potent evangelism, their preoccupation with the end of days and their unique translation of the Bible called the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. In this conclusion to our study of the little understood religion known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses we will take a look at some beliefs that seem to be the same as Islam.
JESUS (peace and blessings of God be upon him)
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus is not God. This is a statement that infuriates most Christians and has led many to declare the Jehovah’s witnesses to be pseudo Christians. Muslims, as we know declare categorically that Jesus is not God, therefore just reading this one little statement may lead a Muslim to say, “Oh this is just the same as us”. But is it? Let us dig a little further into their belief about the role of Jesus.
JW’s condemn the Trinity as pagan idolatry and accordingly deny Jesus’ divinity. However they believe that although Jesus is God’s begotten son he is inferior to God. Thus the similarity to Islam ends abruptly. God says in one of the greatest verses of Quran that He begets not!
Say (O Muhammad): “He is God, (the) One. The Self-Sufficient Master. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him.” (Quran 112)
Why do they call Jesus God's son?
Their answer is in the Bible, as they say:
{God does not have a literal wife with whom he fathered children. But he is the Creator of all life. (Revelation 4:11) Therefore, the first human that God created, Adam, is called a “son of God.” (Luke 3:38) Similarly, the Bible teaches that Jesus was created by God. So Jesus is also called a “Son of God.”—John 1:49.
God created Jesus before he created Adam. Regarding Jesus, the apostle Paul wrote: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15) Jesus’ life began long before he was born in a stable in Bethlehem. In fact, the Bible says that his “origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.” (Micah 5:2) As God’s firstborn Son, Jesus was a spirit creature in heaven before he was born as a human on earth. Jesus himself said: “I have come down from heaven.”—John 6:38; 8:23.}
The above is just an exaggeration of Jesus's virgin birth. The mere saying that 'God weeps', 'God walks on the earth', 'son of God', 'daughter of God', 'mother of God' are blasphemies all right but most people do not understand. God Himself says of these people:
"The Jews call 'Ezra a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. God's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!" [Quran 9:30]
God also told Prophet Muhammad:
"God, the Mighty and Sublime, says: 'The son of Adam denied Me and he had no right to do so. And the son of Adam reviled Me and he had no right to do so. As for his denying Me, It is his saying that I will not resurrect him as I created him in the beginning, but resurrecting him is not more difficult for Me than creating him in the first place. And as for his reviling Me, it is his saying that God has taken a son, but I am God, the One, the Self-Sufficient Master, I beget not nor was I begotten, and there is none co-equal or comparable unto Me."'
Jesus was regarded by his disciples and other contemporaries as a prophet. They do not acclaim him as an incarnation of God or the Son of God.
One who has a pure and deep faith in God and in His Oneness does not do or even think of anything that would insult the Almighty. It is simply out of the question because He sees all and knows each of your thoughts and you do not want to fail to stand up to His standards by rejecting the truth conveyed to us by His messengers.
In addition to this flawed basic understanding of the nature of God, the JW’s also believe in other false claims:
1. They claim Jesus’ life, or what the JW’s call his sacrifice, became the “ransom” price to redeem mankind from sin and death.
The idea that Jesus was the ransom to save our souls or forgive our sins is a concept completely at loggerheads with Islamic belief.
"Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to God. Whether you divulge what is in yourselves or keep it hidden, God will still call you to account for it. He forgives whoever He wills and He punishes whoever He wills. God has power over all things." (Quran 2:284)
"It is He Who accepts repentence from His servants and pardons evil acts and knows what they do." (Quran 42:25)
"The Jews and Christians say, ‘We are God's children and His loved ones.’ Say: ‘Why, then, does He punish you for your wrong actions? No, you are merely human beings among those He has created. He forgives whoever He wills and He punishes whoever He wills. The kingdom of the heavens and the earth and everything between them belongs to God. He is our final destination.’" (Quran 5:18)
"God has promised those who believe and do right actions forgiveness and an immense reward." (Quran 5:9)
God is the Lord of Forgiveness and Retribution. His door to forgiveness is always open. He does not have to let someone be killed in order to forgive other people's faults. Those who submit their whole selves to God, develop personal relationships with Him, and communicate with Him freely day and night will not believe in such fallacies. A Muslim is answerable directly to God for everything he/she does.
2. God, the JW's say, created all in Heaven and on Earth through Christ, the “master worker,” God's servant. In their own literature the JW’s refer to Jesus as “His (God’s) first spirit creation, the master craftsman, the prehuman Jesus”. They go on to say that after Jesus’ resurrection by God, he was “exalted” to a level higher than an angel. The refutation of this is found in God’s own words in the Quran:
"Christ the son of Mary was no more than an apostle; many were the apostles that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how God does make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth!" [Quran 5:75]
"They say: "(God) has begotten a son" :Glory be to Him.-Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth: everything renders worship to Him. To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: When He decrees a matter, He says to it: "Be," and it is." [Quran 2:116-117]
"The similitude of Jesus before God is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was.The Truth (comes) from God alone; so be not of those who doubt." [Quran 3:59-60]
THE CHILDLIKE SPIRIT
The belief that original sin caused humans to inherit death is far from the teachings of Islam. Islam is the religion of the genuine childlike spirit and it teaches us that human beings are born without sin and are naturally inclined to worship God alone (without any intermediaries). To retain this state of sinlessness humankind needs to follow God’s commandments and strive to live a righteous life. If one falls into sin, all that is required is sincere repentance. When a person repents, God wipes out the sin as if it was never committed.
THE IMMORTAL SOUL
The Jehovah’s witnesses do not believe that the soul is immortal. They believe a soul is the entire living being and when separated from the life force originally given by God, the soul dies. Thus, no soul remains after death and that Jesus will return to resurrect the dead, restoring both soul and body. Those judged righteous will be given everlasting life on earth (which will become a paradise). Those judged unrighteous will not be tormented, but will die and cease to exist. What exactly does Islam say about this?
According to Islam, the soul is an immortal creation of God and life continues in the grave after the body is buried. The soul of a faithful person, is easily removed from the body, clothed in a heavenly and sweet smelling garment and taken through the seven heavens.The soul is ultimately returned to the grave, and a gate to Paradise is opened for the person, and its breezes come to him, and he smells its fragrance. He is given the glad tidings of Paradise and he longs for the Hour to begin. The soul of the unbelieving person, on the other hand, is removed from its body with a great deal of struggle but ultimately also returns to the body. The person is tormented in the grave until the Hour begins.
"Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object (of Life): For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception." [Quran 3:]
In the English language, the word 'soul' has many meanings. It can refer to the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal. It can also refer to an individual person. No wonder the JW's took the language of the Bible as their religion rather than the message of Jesus.
To their credit the JW’s avoid behaviours that God dislikes, including celebration of birthdays and holidays originating from false religions. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate their own birthdays, because it is considered a glorification of the individual rather than the Creator. These statements certainly resonate with Islamic belief. However because the JW basic concept of the Oneness of God is flawed their moral behaviour and values mean very little. God tells us clearly about the greatest losers on the Day of Judgement.
“Shall We tell you the greatest losers in respect of (their) deeds? (They are) those whose efforts have been wasted in this life while they thought that they were acquiring good by their deeds. They are those who deny the proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc. of their Lord and the Meeting with Him (in the Hereafter). So their works are in vain, and on the Day of Resurrection, We shall assign no weight for them.” (Quran 18: 103-105)
Thus we find that even if at first glance the Jehovah’s Witnesses seem to have a belief system that resonates with Islamic beliefs, this is far from the truth. Careful consideration reveals defects and mistakes in their basic theories. It appears that the Jehovah’s witnesses have very little in common with either Islam or even early Christianity. Their theories of Heaven and Hell, the Oneness of God, and creation of the Universe are not acceptable to Muslims nor to the early followers of Christ. The JW, after all, is just another man-made religion.
May God guide these people to the truth and justice.
A comparison of Jehovah’s Witnesses beliefs and Islam.
Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW’s) are a Christian denomination with many beliefs that stand out from mainstream Christianity. They are known for their potent evangelism, their preoccupation with the end of days and their unique translation of the Bible called the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. In this conclusion to our study of the little understood religion known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses we will take a look at some beliefs that seem to be the same as Islam.
JESUS (peace and blessings of God be upon him)
Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus is not God. This is a statement that infuriates most Christians and has led many to declare the Jehovah’s witnesses to be pseudo Christians. Muslims, as we know declare categorically that Jesus is not God, therefore just reading this one little statement may lead a Muslim to say, “Oh this is just the same as us”. But is it? Let us dig a little further into their belief about the role of Jesus.
JW’s condemn the Trinity as pagan idolatry and accordingly deny Jesus’ divinity. However they believe that although Jesus is God’s begotten son he is inferior to God. Thus the similarity to Islam ends abruptly. God says in one of the greatest verses of Quran that He begets not!
Say (O Muhammad): “He is God, (the) One. The Self-Sufficient Master. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him.” (Quran 112)
Why do they call Jesus God's son?
Their answer is in the Bible, as they say:
{God does not have a literal wife with whom he fathered children. But he is the Creator of all life. (Revelation 4:11) Therefore, the first human that God created, Adam, is called a “son of God.” (Luke 3:38) Similarly, the Bible teaches that Jesus was created by God. So Jesus is also called a “Son of God.”—John 1:49.
God created Jesus before he created Adam. Regarding Jesus, the apostle Paul wrote: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Colossians 1:15) Jesus’ life began long before he was born in a stable in Bethlehem. In fact, the Bible says that his “origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.” (Micah 5:2) As God’s firstborn Son, Jesus was a spirit creature in heaven before he was born as a human on earth. Jesus himself said: “I have come down from heaven.”—John 6:38; 8:23.}
The above is just an exaggeration of Jesus's virgin birth. The mere saying that 'God weeps', 'God walks on the earth', 'son of God', 'daughter of God', 'mother of God' are blasphemies all right but most people do not understand. God Himself says of these people:
"The Jews call 'Ezra a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. God's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!" [Quran 9:30]
God also told Prophet Muhammad:
"God, the Mighty and Sublime, says: 'The son of Adam denied Me and he had no right to do so. And the son of Adam reviled Me and he had no right to do so. As for his denying Me, It is his saying that I will not resurrect him as I created him in the beginning, but resurrecting him is not more difficult for Me than creating him in the first place. And as for his reviling Me, it is his saying that God has taken a son, but I am God, the One, the Self-Sufficient Master, I beget not nor was I begotten, and there is none co-equal or comparable unto Me."'
Jesus was regarded by his disciples and other contemporaries as a prophet. They do not acclaim him as an incarnation of God or the Son of God.
One who has a pure and deep faith in God and in His Oneness does not do or even think of anything that would insult the Almighty. It is simply out of the question because He sees all and knows each of your thoughts and you do not want to fail to stand up to His standards by rejecting the truth conveyed to us by His messengers.
In addition to this flawed basic understanding of the nature of God, the JW’s also believe in other false claims:
1. They claim Jesus’ life, or what the JW’s call his sacrifice, became the “ransom” price to redeem mankind from sin and death.
The idea that Jesus was the ransom to save our souls or forgive our sins is a concept completely at loggerheads with Islamic belief.
"Everything in the heavens and everything in the earth belongs to God. Whether you divulge what is in yourselves or keep it hidden, God will still call you to account for it. He forgives whoever He wills and He punishes whoever He wills. God has power over all things." (Quran 2:284)
"It is He Who accepts repentence from His servants and pardons evil acts and knows what they do." (Quran 42:25)
"The Jews and Christians say, ‘We are God's children and His loved ones.’ Say: ‘Why, then, does He punish you for your wrong actions? No, you are merely human beings among those He has created. He forgives whoever He wills and He punishes whoever He wills. The kingdom of the heavens and the earth and everything between them belongs to God. He is our final destination.’" (Quran 5:18)
"God has promised those who believe and do right actions forgiveness and an immense reward." (Quran 5:9)
God is the Lord of Forgiveness and Retribution. His door to forgiveness is always open. He does not have to let someone be killed in order to forgive other people's faults. Those who submit their whole selves to God, develop personal relationships with Him, and communicate with Him freely day and night will not believe in such fallacies. A Muslim is answerable directly to God for everything he/she does.
2. God, the JW's say, created all in Heaven and on Earth through Christ, the “master worker,” God's servant. In their own literature the JW’s refer to Jesus as “His (God’s) first spirit creation, the master craftsman, the prehuman Jesus”. They go on to say that after Jesus’ resurrection by God, he was “exalted” to a level higher than an angel. The refutation of this is found in God’s own words in the Quran:
"Christ the son of Mary was no more than an apostle; many were the apostles that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how God does make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth!" [Quran 5:75]
"They say: "(God) has begotten a son" :Glory be to Him.-Nay, to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth: everything renders worship to Him. To Him is due the primal origin of the heavens and the earth: When He decrees a matter, He says to it: "Be," and it is." [Quran 2:116-117]
"The similitude of Jesus before God is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was.The Truth (comes) from God alone; so be not of those who doubt." [Quran 3:59-60]
THE CHILDLIKE SPIRIT
The belief that original sin caused humans to inherit death is far from the teachings of Islam. Islam is the religion of the genuine childlike spirit and it teaches us that human beings are born without sin and are naturally inclined to worship God alone (without any intermediaries). To retain this state of sinlessness humankind needs to follow God’s commandments and strive to live a righteous life. If one falls into sin, all that is required is sincere repentance. When a person repents, God wipes out the sin as if it was never committed.
THE IMMORTAL SOUL
The Jehovah’s witnesses do not believe that the soul is immortal. They believe a soul is the entire living being and when separated from the life force originally given by God, the soul dies. Thus, no soul remains after death and that Jesus will return to resurrect the dead, restoring both soul and body. Those judged righteous will be given everlasting life on earth (which will become a paradise). Those judged unrighteous will not be tormented, but will die and cease to exist. What exactly does Islam say about this?
According to Islam, the soul is an immortal creation of God and life continues in the grave after the body is buried. The soul of a faithful person, is easily removed from the body, clothed in a heavenly and sweet smelling garment and taken through the seven heavens.The soul is ultimately returned to the grave, and a gate to Paradise is opened for the person, and its breezes come to him, and he smells its fragrance. He is given the glad tidings of Paradise and he longs for the Hour to begin. The soul of the unbelieving person, on the other hand, is removed from its body with a great deal of struggle but ultimately also returns to the body. The person is tormented in the grave until the Hour begins.
"Every soul shall have a taste of death: And only on the Day of Judgment shall you be paid your full recompense. Only he who is saved far from the Fire and admitted to the Garden will have attained the object (of Life): For the life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception." [Quran 3:]
In the English language, the word 'soul' has many meanings. It can refer to the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal. It can also refer to an individual person. No wonder the JW's took the language of the Bible as their religion rather than the message of Jesus.
To their credit the JW’s avoid behaviours that God dislikes, including celebration of birthdays and holidays originating from false religions. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not celebrate their own birthdays, because it is considered a glorification of the individual rather than the Creator. These statements certainly resonate with Islamic belief. However because the JW basic concept of the Oneness of God is flawed their moral behaviour and values mean very little. God tells us clearly about the greatest losers on the Day of Judgement.
“Shall We tell you the greatest losers in respect of (their) deeds? (They are) those whose efforts have been wasted in this life while they thought that they were acquiring good by their deeds. They are those who deny the proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc. of their Lord and the Meeting with Him (in the Hereafter). So their works are in vain, and on the Day of Resurrection, We shall assign no weight for them.” (Quran 18: 103-105)
Thus we find that even if at first glance the Jehovah’s Witnesses seem to have a belief system that resonates with Islamic beliefs, this is far from the truth. Careful consideration reveals defects and mistakes in their basic theories. It appears that the Jehovah’s witnesses have very little in common with either Islam or even early Christianity. Their theories of Heaven and Hell, the Oneness of God, and creation of the Universe are not acceptable to Muslims nor to the early followers of Christ. The JW, after all, is just another man-made religion.
May God guide these people to the truth and justice.
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