277. Observing fast of silence.

Those days, observing a fast by not speaking (speech fasting) was permitted. This verse (19:26) of the Quran says Maryam (AS) observed this kind of fasting.

Taking this as a cue, it should not be misconstrued, this kind of fasting is permissible in Islam. As far as fundamentals are concerned, right from the beginning till the period of Prophet Muhammad the ideology was the same and maintained as such. But it needs to be observed, the laws regarding non fundamentals were not uniform for all communities.

When a law revealed to an earlier community is changed at a later date in the Quran or by Prophet Muhammad, it should be understood as a law specified for that particular community.

Since laws revealed to Prophet Muhammad did not mention silent fast, the need to observe it by the community does not arise.

On hearing about a comrade observing a vow not to talk to anyone, the prophet reprimanded , and restrained him from continuing the same. Hence it needs to be concluded observing a vow not to talk to anyone is not permissible in Islam.

(Hadith Book Bukhari:6704)

To know more on this topic please refer to explanation point 326.

276. No age limit prescribed to be a messenger of God.

These two verses (19:12, 19:30) of the Quran talk of two who were accorded prophethood while very young.

Some Muslim scholars give an undue importance to the age of 40, saying revelation of scripture and according prophethood is done only at that age. These verses are a strong rebuttal to such thinkers. 

These verses are proof to show there is no connection between according prophethood and age of the person.

275. To also believe in Prophet Muhammad.

In this verse 63:1) we find Allah saying about the hypocrites calling Prophet Muhammad as the messenger of God as a lie.

During Prophet Muhammad’s time people used to visit him and accepted him as the messenger of God, likewise his detractors also did the same.

But Allah says the words of the hypocrites did not come from their hearts and calls them liars.

Some ignorants misunderstanding this verse say while accepting Islam as a way of life we are required to say La ilaha illallah only and not add Muhammad ur Rasoolullah considered to be a trait of hypocrites.

This is entirely wrong.

Because Allah did not say the words uttered by hypocrites is wrong, but only reprimands the hypocrites for uttering words that does not do not come from their hearts.

The hypocrites said they believe in Allah, but the truth was they did not. Similarly was their stand on Prophet Muhammad for which Allah reprimands them in this verse.

Taking a pledge abo9ut Prophet Muhammad being a messenger of God,was a practice those days accepted by God, and that the pledge should be wholehearted is being conveyed through this verse.

274. The journey that makes one realize earth is round.

This (verse 18:90) of the Quran talks about a long journey undertaken by king Zulqarnain. 

Zulqarnain begins his travel towards the East, and all of a sudden his travel turns towards the West says the verse. 

This can happen only if the earth is round, making one reach the west starting from the east.

For example, station a spherical object within a square and move your fingers on the surface outwards to bring them towards the start place.

The fingers that were moved towards east on reaching a semicircle start moving towards the west.

A person travelling towards east from Chennai keeps on travelling until he reaches an angle of 180 degrees and comes towards you waiting for him. He reaches you from the west.

Let’s imagine we have a vehicle that goes around the globe in an hour’s time. If a person starts his journey from Chennai on a straight course, will reach you back from the opposite direction, and not from the direction he started moving. 

Because the earth being round in shape the direction changes once half the distance is reached.

Ordinarily when you view any round object, only half of it can be viewed from one side while the other half faces its opposite side.If that does not happen, it can be concluded as not a round object. 

While narrating a historical event, the Quran reveals with care a scientific fact proving itself to be the word of God.

273. Spiritualism and Ignorance.

In these (verses 18:60-82) of the Quran we find Prophet Musa’s encounter with a person named Khidir by which he learns a few things.

These verses talk of Khidir having knowledge about things which prophet Musa was unaware of. Some find in this, an acknowledgement of wrong ideologies they follow.

They say though Prophet Musa was a messenger from God, performed miracles etc, he did not possess the secret knowledge that Khidir was aware , and that the knowledge gained by Khidir in spiritual meditation is better than Prophet Musa’s knowledge gained through divine message.

They argue invisible hidden knowledge about things in this world becomes visible with spiritual eyes without expecting divine messages. They call this spiritualism.

Their argument is not acceptable.

Prophet Muhammad has explained the background of the incidents taking place in these verses.

When Prophet Musa got up to make a sermon amidst the people of Israel, he was asked who is the best of the knowledgeable, to which he replied “I Am the best of all the knowledgeable'' instead of “Allah is the All Knower”. Allah was annoyed by these words and declared “ A servant of Mine is at a place where two seas meet, he is much more knowledgeable than you are “. To this Prophet Musa asked God ways to approach him, when he was asked to carry a fish in a container and travel till the fish goes missing at a particular spot, where he will find the person.

Prophet Musa and his associate Yusha bin Noon began their journey with the fish in a container. They found a huge rock during their trip where they decided to take a rest. While doing so the fish slipped out of the container into the sea.

(Hadith Book Bukhari: 122, 3401, 4725, 4726)

Further talking about this incident Prophet Muhammad mentions

Prophet Musa found Khidir at that particular spot and greeted him. Khidir asked Prophet Musa about the ways people greet each other back home, to this Prophet Musa replied “I am Musa”. '' On this khidir asked “whether he was the one sent for the people of Israel” (Hadith Book Bukhari:122, 3401, 4725, 4727) to which Prophet Musa said “Yes”.(Hadith Book Bukhari:122, 3401, 4725, 4727)

Khidir queried why Prophet Musa was present there. To this Prophet Musa replied he was present in that place to find and learn from him things which he was not aware of. Khidir replied to Prophet Musa by saying “ You are getting divine messages and you are in possession of Torah scripture.” (Hadith Book Bukhari :4726)

There is adequate rebuttal in the above cited hadiths for those who argue that Khidir had knowledge of three things through spiritualism, that Prophet Musa was unaware of, and things can be known better by spiritualism than through divine messages.

When Prophet Musa greeted Khidir, he queried Prophet Musa about ways followed by people in greeting each other back home.

This shows Khidir was unaware of the fact the person he encountered was a messenger of God and also a Muslim like himself. 

And only after this was Prophet Musa’s reply “ I am Musa” to which Khidir, unaware the person he encountered is a messenger of God, asks whether he was the one sent to the people of Israel, and again asks for the reason for his presence there.

If Khidir had knowledge of the hidden, he would have without posing questions to Prophet Musa tell him, “Yes I know the reason for your presence here, you have come to learn a few things from me.”

Of the three events cited, the incident of resurrecting a falling wall is one. 

It can be seen from the above cited verses, Prophet Musa and Khidr while on their journey to a certain place requested food from the residents, they were refused, to be provided with. Here we find, Khidir did not have the knowledge, about the residents refusing them food. If indeed he knew about their refusal with his spiritual awareness he would have carried food with him and not asked for it from the residents of the place.

Prophet Musa, after giving assurances to Khidir, he would not raise questions countering him, violated the condition three times. Had Khidir been aware of the violation by Prophet Musa beforehand, he would not have been deceived thrice going by the words of Prophet Musa.

Hence to prove the fact there is nothing known as spiritual awareness in existence to know the hidden, the above incidents are examples. 

The question now is how come only Khidir was aware of the three incidents and not Prophet Musa?

The answer to this question lies in understanding the verses in a better way.

After the three incidents we find the Quran as saying “ I did not make the three incidents to happen on my accord, but with the guidance from Allah”. 

From this it could be understood, Allah wished to teach Prophet Musa a lesson through the three incidents, because of his utterance “ I am the best of the knowledgeable person”

After being revealed to them by God, the ship was damaged to save it from being abducted by the king's men. 

Because of the revelation from God, they set correct the wall that was about to fall over the treasure below, to be inherited by two children.

Since it was not revealed to them by God they were unable to know the residents would refuse them food.

They also commit a murder to save the person from being misled himself and misleading his parents.

Hence God having revealed the three incidents to Khidir alone and not to Prophet Musa with instructions to act in the particular way, they could accomplish them.

There is nothing to term as spiritual knowledge about these incidents.

And moreover from the above cited hadiths it is also confirmed from the words “ I know what was revealed to me by the Almighty, and you know what was revealed to you by Him” uttered by Khidir to Prophet Musa.

During their journey by sea in a boat Prophet Musa and Khidr came across a small bird beating its wings on the surface of the sea, on this Khidir remarked, “Oh Musa, the amount of water that could be taken in by this bird from the sea in its mouth when compared to the extent of knowledge gained by us from Allah is much less”.(Hadith Book Bukhari :122, 3401, 4725).

Khidir has made it crystal clear by these words, nothing known as spiritualism exists regarding gaining knowledge.

Next, we need to pinpoint another mistake committed by some exegesis regarding these incidents. 

Some scholars and translators say the person killed by Khidir was an infant. There are many skeptics who question this concept.

They say Khidir killed him because he would grow up to mislead his parents.

A question now arises, just because a person would commit a crime in future, where is the justification for killing him at an infant stage. These exegetes do not offer a proper explanation for this.

Hence translating not as an infant, but as an adult would render this question redundant. Being an adult, tormenting his parents everyday, and forcing them to become infidels, would justify his killing.

The word used in our translation verse 18:74 as ‘“adult” by us and “child” by others refers to “Ghulam”.This word has many meanings as, slave, servant, child, appropriately aged etc;

Naming a person as an adult and getting him killed for a crime he commited sounds more appropriate, than naming him a child and killing him for a crime he did not commit.

There is evidence in hadiths to make such a conclusion. 

Ibn Umar (RA) narrated “ I was an unmarried (ghulam) adult. (Hadith Book Bukhari: 7031, 3739)

“ I was an adult “ a ghulam quoted by Ibn Umar is registered as Haith 6122 in the book Bukhari.

Abu Bakr’s son was an adult (Hadith Book Bukhari : 5807).

Get this ghulam married to this girl said Prophet Muhammad. Hadith Book Bukhari: 3472.

Harissa was killed in the battle field when he was a ghulam. Hadith Book Bukhari: 3982, 6550. 

The ghulam who was serving Prophet Muhammad reverted to Islam.Hadith Book Bukhari:1356, 5657. 

If the word ghulam is translated as child in all these places , it would be meaningless.

It would be appropriate for the word ghulam to mean as adult in these verses, as can be seen from its usage in the hadiths cited above. 

To know more about things like ordination, owing allegiance to persons, spiritualism, do not find place in Islam please refer to explanation points 81, 182, 334. 

272. Not to prohibit matters permitted by God.

(Verse 66:1) of the Quran says Prophet Muhammad in order to satisfy his wives, subjected himself to self restrictions in matters allowed by God. The historical background on the revelation of this verse is as follows:

Ayisha (RA) said:

Whenever Prophet Muhammad visited his wife Zainab bint Jahsh he consumed honey at her residence and take rest there. To tease him we (Aisha and Hafsa) charted a plan to ask him questions such as “did you eat acacia gum at her residence” ? We are getting a bad odour from you ! When he returned and did the same. To this the prophet replied “ No I didn’t eat any acacia gum, but had honey at Zainab bint Jahsh, henceforth I promise to stay away from drinking honey. Do not disclose this matter to anyone.” Verse 66:1 of the Quran was revealed at this occasion.

Hadith Book Bukhari: 4912, 6691

Allah has permitted honey to be consumed by humans. But Prophet Muhammad has restricted himself from consuming it to satisfy his wives. This verse was revealed in a way to reprimand the prophet. 

People might question how self restriction by Prophet Muhammad be termed as against God’s permission, while he did not restrict the public at large from consuming honey.

If a person dislikes a particular type of food there is absolutely no harm in keeping away from it, but liking a food and still keeping away from it amounts to crime, because the aspect of refusing something God permits lies there.

Allah’s reprimand of Prophet Muhammad in these verses is based these fundamentals. 

Allowing or prohibiting something is within the rights of God Almighty. Even Prophet Muhammad cannot prohibit something allowed by God, in self restriction, though not for the entire mankind. When this being the case with the prophet of God, others do not stand a chance.

Some Muslim scholars prohibit many things permitted by Allah, and the people accept all these acts by them. For instance, consuming crab, shark, lobstars, whale etc are prohibited by these scholars without any substantiation. The restrictions on these seafood are accepted by people without a whimper. This verse is a stark reminder and warning for such. 

Similarly, wearing of half sleeved shirts, trousers, hair dressing, learning English language was banned in the name of Islam, and the same was accepted by the community. 

This verse remains a warning to this kind of people. Anyone who declares or prohibits in the name of Islam should confirm the same whether Allah and his messenger allowed or disallowed the same. 

Please refer to explanation point 186, to know more about this topic. 

271. The ‘Dead Sea’ scrolls.

While mentioning (verse 18:9) about people who relaxed in the cave, the Quran refers to them as ‘ people belonging to the cave and the scrolls.

We come to understand they were associated with some sort of a scroll. 

The mention would not have been made if it was some insignificant scroll. The word ‘that scroll’ signifies an importance.

Allah would have made a mention only with the objective that someday the scrolls would be discovered and its content exposed to people. If it was not to be discovered at a later date, the mention of the word “that scroll“ would not have been made.

For many years the contents of the scroll were not made known to the world.

In 1998 a one hour programme titled “The Dead Sea Scrolls” aired in the by the BBC Television surprised everyone. 

It is said the programme had already been aired in 1993.

The details:

In 1947 a shepherd boy while looking around for his lost kid along the shores of the Dead Sea in the Kumran mountain ranges of Jordan, happened to look into a cave where he found a bunch of leather scrolls stuffed in a earthen pot, he collected some ant took them home to his father a cobbler by profession. 

The next day the father and the son visit the same cave to pick and take home the remains of the scrolls.

The father, with an intention to use the leather (scrolls) to cobble footwear, found Hebrew inscriptions on them. This made him take the scrolls to a bookseller dealing in old books in Jerusalem then under the rule of the king of Jordan.

This book seller, who knew Hebrew to a certain extent, understood the scrolls to be of some historical significance, bought them by paying a few Dinars. 

The bookseller who happened to be Christian handed over the scrolls to the local church. 

In the meanwhile the news about the discovery of the scrolls spread, the Jews and Muslims, expressed a great deal of interest in knowing the contents of the scrolls. 

King Hussein who was the then ruler of Jordan, made a suggestion that the scrolls be handed over to a group consisting of Muslims, Jews, and Christians to be studied.

But the Christian priests of the time argued the scrolls are a private property ,and cannot be placed in the public for review and refused access even to Christian scholars of the time.

In the intervening five years the priests of Jerusalem formed groups and collected all of what was the remains of the scrolls from the areas of the Kumran mountain ranges.

By the year 1952, the entire collection of scrolls were at the hands of the Christian priests. It is given to understand that at present there are fifteen thousand such manuscripts in their custody.

For over fifty years the said group of Christian priests blacked out the contents of the scrolls. 

Many Christian scholars and researchers were refused access to them.

If any one of the group of the priests happen to die, another one was elected by the rest, and allowed exclusive access to the scrolls.

All these years the contents of the scroll were preserved as a secret, with the Vatican in the forefront.

The secret group that was incharge of the scrolls attempted to microfilm the same because the manuscripts were on the verge of destruction due to the ageing.

One set of the microfilmed scrolls was sent to a library in Los Angeles for safe keeping.

In 1990 a scholar by the name of Heisman was appointed the head of that library. He was one of the many who was refused access to the scrolls previously.

He took larger copies of the microfilms of the scrolls from the library under him and read the same. 

He confesses that he was very much surprised and said he came to understand the intention of the Vatican in not divulging the contents of scrolls.

With the help of a professor of Hebrew language from Chicago University he released the English translation of about 100 manuscripts he considered were important.

The documentary news reader of the BBC Television says the release of the translated work of the scrolls shook the entire Christian world and particularly the Christian churches all over were frozen with shock.

The news presenter of the documentary expressed fear that the two scholars instrumental in the release of the translation of the scrolls, may be subjected to legal action for having undermined the religious beliefs of westerners.

But the two scholars were unfazed by such fears and threats and said they were ready to face any eventuality for having unravelled an important secret to the world.

These scrolls denied any rituals carried out by today’s Christian churches.

These rituals by today’s christians were not in any way connected with the teachings of Prophet Esa, but were created by Paul. 

On the whole it was found, all the ideologies put forward by today’s christians are false, and could not be found even in the next generation of true Christians after Prophet Esa. 

In this broadcast scholar Heisman during the debate with a Jew regarding the scrolls firmly says they (the scrolls) prove Islam right. At this point the camera shifts to a different scene moving away from the debate.

Similarly the camera is found to move into a different scene while scholar Michael Vais talking in the programme says the scrolls prove Islam true. 

Hence the viewers are not able to know how the scrolls are making Islam true.

We came to know a surprisingly true message from this broadcast. 

We can find in many places the Quran saying God revealed to Prophet Esa the scripture Injeel, but was found to be nowhere with the Christian community. 

Because the ‘ New Testament ‘ is not the one revealed by God to Prophet Esa, rather people’s notes about Prophet Esa. 

Jesus spread the message of ‘The KIngdom’ (Matthew 4:23, Mark 1:14.)

This is, all the more reason to believe, the people of the cave, the true followers of Prophet Esa carried with them the scrolls, that are hidden away from people, even today.

The opinion of the Christian scholars on reading from the scrolls is ‘They are compatible with the Quran’

And in many places in the Quran we find it saying bringing to truth the scripture Injeel. 

The planned blackout by the Christian priests who have gone through the scrolls confirm this.

And it also is a confirmation that God would not accorded the amount of importance to a man made message.

270. Performing salah in silence and with sound recitation.

There are two opinions expressed about the meaning of the contents of this verse (17:110) in the hadith books. 

The hadiths 7526, 6327, 4723 from the Book Bukhari declare as said by Ayisha (RA) this verse talks about man’s prayer to God. 

The meaning of the word ‘salah’ is prayer and as well worship. Since Ayesha (RA) has declared the verse talks about worship taking into consideration the meaning of the word salah it is indeed acceptable.

In our earlier editions we have given explanations based on this basics. But sayings by Ayesha are unacceptable in for a different reason.

If this verse talks about pleading with God, it should not be done soundly or secretly. 

And should be carried out in a mediocre manner is the message given out here. But the discipline regarding pleading with Allah differs from that expressed by Ayesha in this verse.

Plead with your Lord in humbleness and secrecy.He does not take a liking towards the transgressors. Verse (7:55) of the Quran.

Allah commands in this verse to pray to Him in secrecy.But as per Ayesha’s (RA) explanation is to pray in a low voice and not in secrecy. 

Moreover there are hadiths that stress the need to pray in silence. But Ayesha’s (RA) explanation is against all these messages. 

Verse 7:55 that says to pray in silence contains the word “Dua’ But the verse 17:110 contains the word ‘ salat’ stressing more the Muslim form of worship and less of ‘plead’ with God.

Taking a cue from verse 7:55 is more suitable to set rules on ways to plead with God. 

Ibnu Abbas while talking about the need for revelation of this verse places an opinion contradicting that of Ayesha’s. 

When in the initial days, Prophet Muhammad propagated Islam in Makkah, he used to perform salah (worship) by reciting aloud the verses of the Quran, on hearing it the infidels used to criticise the prophet, the Quran and the great God Who revealed it.It was at this time the verse regarding recitation of Quranic verses during worship to be done in a voice not high enough to disturb the infidels nor low in an inaudible voice, was revealed.

Hadith Book Bukhari:4722, 7490, 7525

This saying of Ibnu Abbas about the revelation of this verse when Prophet Muhammad was propagating Islam in sececy in the initial days does not contradict the verse itself. 

Some of the misguided say the present way of carrying on worship is not compatible with this verse. 

At present we observe salah (worship) by reciting aloud and some in silence, and at all times we plead with God in silence. Because this was the method taught to us by Prophet Muhammad.

But the argument by these people is, the worship is to be carried out in a mild voice , and not loud or in a low voice.

The method followed at present by us is not against this verse since it is evidenced by the initial days way of the prophet.