156. Is Prophet Muhammad to suffer twice the torment. 

In verse (17:75) Allah says “Has the Prophet ventured to guide people in the wrong way,we would make him suffer twice the torment in the hereafter.

Prophet Muhammad during his final days being afflicted with ailments said he suffered twice the toment.

Hadith Book Bukhari:(5648, 5660, 5667)

Some opine this hadith contradicts the Quran.

In this verse the Almighty says about twice the torment to be undergone by people in a show of punishment. To test people in this world and to award them in the hereafter inflicting the pious with sufferings is not contradicting the Quran.

There is evidence in the Quran to show that many, for example Prophet Ayyub underwent enormous hardships.

This verse talks about torments experienced by transgressors and not about people who are tested for their beliefs.The sufferings undergone by people tested for their faith do not amount to punishment. Hence this hadith about Prophet Muhammad undergoing twice the pain cannot be considered as contradicting the Quran.

155. Allah’s words (Kalimatullah) that cannot possibly be written.

The words of Allah known as Kalimatullah-are of four different types as seen from the Holy Quran.They are :-.

1 The Holy Quran.

2 Earlier Scriptures.

3 Those registered in the Lauhul Mahphool- register. 

4. Millions and billions of commandments every second that come from Allah.

In the fourth explanation we have translated them as commandments and not as words of Allah.

Those verses are as follows- 6:115, 8:7, 10:64, 10:82, 18:109, 31:27, 42:24

On verses 18:109, 31:27, of the Quran we find the phrase “ If we are to write down the words from Allah, ink equaling the volume of water in the sea, will not be sufficient , even if there are seven times that quantity would never be enough. 

Some give a meaning that explains this verse as “ the whole sea water if treated as ink will not be enough to offer explanations of the Quran. 

.This explanation is completely wrong.The Almighty has made ‘The Holy Quran’ easy for the people to understand. 

The commandments that come from Almighty in a second to a single person runs into several thousands ,directions to each of his organs , directions to each of the cells in the tissues of the organs..Millions and millions of commandments continue to come from Almighty for the functioning of each person . 

There is no doubt in the fact that,in order to note down billions and billions of orders from Allah towards his creations all over the universe,equaling the volume of water of all the seas put together would not be enough.

154. The reason why heavenly beings were not sent as messengers of God.

The verses (6:8,9, 17:95, 23:24, 25:7, 41:14) of the Quran replies to the question ‘why heavenly beings are not sent as messengers of God in place of humans.The people of those days in order for them to believe wanted heavenly beings be sent as messengers of God.

The arguments put forth by those people were “ heavenly beings who are in no requirement of eating and drinking are better placed than humans, and we do not have any inhibitions in believing in the God that sent them as His messengers”

They refused to accept a human being like them who ate and drank, as a messenger of God,.and also refused to believe in the scriptures brought by the messengers..

And for the aforesaid reasons the messengers were rejected by these people can be seen in verses (25:7, 6:8,9, 23:24, 41:14 ) of the Quran..

We can easily believe in a being that does not eat and drink like humans and also take into confidence the scriptures they brought. These were the wishes of the people as seen from the verses we cited above. 

Allah replies the following to their question.

In verse (6:9) of the Quran, Allah says ,”if we happen to send heavenly beings as our messengers ,we will send them in human form”.

In verse 17:95 of the Quran Allah says “if the heavenly beings move freely on earth we would send heavenly beings as messengers” 

Allah says,

”They are demanding heavenly beings be sent as messengers, and in case we decide to send them as messengers we will be doing it by sending them in human disguise with human attributes,.and they will again raise the same questions

There is another important fact we need to observe in the message of Allah that says “He will send heavenly beings as messengers in human form 

If the task of messengers is just to deliver the scriptures to people there are no restrictions in sending an angel. 

The task of messengers does not stop with just delivering the messages, they are also tasked with the responsibility of living the scriptures as a model to explain it to the people. This cannot be implemented by them (the angels)as a human. Hence it is not feasible to send angels as messengers of God to men.

The messengers who bring the scriptures have an additional task of explaining and living the scripture brought by them.amongst the people, is the reason angels cannot be replaced by them. 

By not revealing the scripture in written form.

By not sending angels as messengers 

By sending men as his messengers.

We can understand by the above cited verses of the Quran that the task of the messengers is to explain and live the scriptures they bring along with them.

There is ample denial in these verses to the concept by some that The Quran alone is sufficient without any explanation from Prophet Muhammad. 

If The Quran is believed to be more than sufficient, the Almighty would have sent angels instead, because it is easier for humans to believe in angels than messengers. 

To know more about obeying the commandments of Allah and following the guidance of Prophet Muhammad please refer explanation points 18, 39, 50, 55, 56, 57, 60, 67, 72, 105, 125, 127, 128, 132, 164, 184, 244, 255, 256, 258, 286, 318, 350, 352, 358, 430 .

153. What is meant by ‘Sending angels’.

God had created heavenly beings and allotted errands to them. And these heavenly beings have been going about their errands on earth is mentioned in many places of the Quran.

And other than this there are other heavenly beings allotted the work of destroying the evil on Earth. This is mentioned in verses (2:210, 6:8, 6:158, 15:8, 16:33) of the Quran.

152. The Holy Quran was not revealed in written form.

Some Muslims believe the Holy Quran was revealed in written form.

The following verses (2:97, 4:153,. 6:7, 7:157, 7:158, 20:114, 25:5, 26:194, 29:48, 75:16, 75:18, 87:6) of the Quran remain as a denial to their belief Quran was delivered in written form. The verse (6:7) of the Quran “These people will not believe even if presented in written form” confirms it was not presented in the written form.

Verse 4:153 says “ They demand the scripture be delivered to them from the skies. Hence we can understand the Quran was not delivered in written format.Verses 2:97. 26, 194, say ” This verse was not delivered in written form , but was set in the heart of Prophet Muhammad by Jibreel an angel.

Verse (75:16-19) of the Quran tells prophet Muhammad “ Do not move your tongue in distress, we are the Ones who are responsible for gathering and recitation. Do as and when it is recited by following us.We are responsible for clarifying.” 

.Had Jibreel (A,S) presented the Quran to Prophet Muhammad in written form there is no need for the Prophet to memorize, it in a hurry, it is easier for him to memorize the Quran from the writing that was noted down by the comrades of Prphet Muhammad once Jibreel (A.S) left.

Because it (The Quran) was not delivered in written form did Prophet Muhammad started to move his tongue in a bid to memorize it a hurry and hence the verse (75:16-19) And the verse also says to Prophet Muhammad not to worry about memorizing the Quran, since Allah takes the responsibility of taking in to the hearts. 

This is yet another clear proof confirmation that the Quran was not delivered in written form.

The verses (86:6,7) says “We will recite the Quran to you, and you will not forget, except those willed by Allah, He is the knower of those revealed and the hidden. 

The sentence ” We will recite the Quran to you, confirms Quran was not delivered in written form, and the following sentence you will not forget reconfirms the same..and since unforgettable power of memory is gifted to him there is no need for a written form is the message within these verses. 

.Hence it has been proved that The Quran was not delivered in written form beyond any doubt.

.And The Quran also makes clear that Prophet Muhammad was an illiterate through many verses.

Please refer to explanation point 312 to know more.

151. The questioning in the hereafter that confirms “Raising of Prophet Isa to the skies”

These verses (5:116-118) of the Quran talk about Prophet Isa being questioned in the hereafter and his answers to it.

 In this verse the Arabic word ‘Tawaffaitani’ is translated as ‘You raised me’

There is a difference of opinion in translating ‘Tawaffaitani’ as to whether ‘when you raised me’ or ‘when you gave me death’

Some take the word ‘Tawaffaitani’ to mean ‘when You let me die’’ to show as a proof that Prophet Isa is indeed dead. They argue and cite the phrases after You let me die’ ‘You are witness to their deeds” means Prophet Isa is dead..

They continue to argue, that the word ‘Tawaffai’ can be seen being used in twenty five places in the Quran, and out of it in twenty three places the word is used in the context to mean “cause death” 

This argument of theirs is a fallacy, and the same can be proved by pointing out the denial within their argument.

As per their argument , this word ‘Tawffaitani’ means to ‘cause death’ in twenty three places and in the rest of the two places to mean ‘Taking hold or capture’. Our question now is why wasn’t the same meaning used in the remaining two places.

What needs to be taken into consideration is the criteria of the context in which a word is used and not based on the number of times it is used.

The meaning of the word ‘Tawaffa’ means taking control completely, and it does not have a direct connotation to mean death at all.

Since the meaning of death is the complete take over in its entirety of body and soul together this word came into usage has to to noted.

In these verses 2:234, 2:240, 3:55, 3:193, 4:97, 6:61, 7:37, 7:126, 8:50, 10:46, 10:104, 12:101, 13:40, 16:28, 16:32, 16:70, 22:05, 32:11, 40:67, 40:77, 47:27 of the Quran we find the word ‘Tawaffa’ used to mean ‘cause death’.

He is the ‘One’ who takes over you in the night. (The Holy Quran 6:60)

Though the same word is used in this verse it means taking complete control of a person in sleep, and not death. 

Restrain them at homes till death takes control of them..(The Holy Quran 4:15)

If the word ‘Tawaffa’ in the verse has the meaning ‘until to cause death’ then it has to be translated as ‘till death causes death’ since the meaning ‘being until death’ is understood, there is no need to define the word further.

But if the word is taken to mean ‘take full control of’ it has to be understood as till death catches up with them.

Allah takes control of souls when they leave the body and while they leave while asleep.(The Holy Quran 39:42.) 

In this verse also we find the word ‘Tawaffa’ meaning Allah takes control of the souls of those who are asleep ,this will wrongly lead to a conclusion those who are asleep being considered dead.

Here we take it to mean as Allah taking control of the souls of those asleep and not as having caused death to them.

.Other than this we find in verses 2:281, 3:161, 3:185, 16:111 of the Quran same word used while talking about full returns to people in the hereafter world, in that context alone and not to mean as they will be put to death in the hereafter.

This word has three meanings such as ,causing death, taking control of, and paying back in full,all of which needs to be taken in the suitable context as applicable.

To understand this even more clearly we can pay attention to the word ‘Salah’.

The direct meaning of the word ‘Salah’ is ‘plea’ The word ‘salah’ referring to Islamic form of worship and other words that has a root in this word are used in 109 places in the Quran..Of these, in 102 places we see the word being used to refer to the Islamic form of worship and in 7 places it is used in the direct meaning. 

.Now let’s look into how the word ‘Tawaffa in the verse (5:117)is to be understood

We can see from the replies of Prophet Isa to Allah during questioning, the word ‘Tawaffa’ as in verse 5:117 means to convey ‘Taking complete control of’..There is more evidence pointing towards this meaning.

Prophet Isa would not reply saying”As long as I was alive I was observing them (the people), once you took control of me ‘You became their custodian’.

But I would rather say ‘When I was with them I cared for them, but on You taking control of me, You are their custodian’.

We need to ponder the difference between “When I was alive” and “When I was with them’’. 

If the phrase ‘Fallama tawaffataini’ was used after ‘When I was alive’ it would mean when You caused my death” We see such phrases being avoided and the sentence “When I was with them” used instead, that's a completely different phrase.

We see two messages within the phrase “When I was with them I monitored them”..One message is when Prophet Isa was alive he was in a position to monitor them, and the other message is, in spite of him remaining alive he might not have been in a position of monitoring them.

Because of these two kinds of positions Prophet Isa says “when I was with them I monitored them and when I was raised unto you I was rendered helpless to do so. 

When I was with them I monitored them , Falamma Tawaffataini (when You took full control of me) (ie) When I was away from them under your control to a different location You were their custodian”. If we could comprehend the verse in this manner it fits into place along with the previous sentence.If the meaning of this verse is taken as “When you caused my death” it contradicts the Quranic verses (43:61) that says “Prophet Isa will be a witness to the dooms day, and verse (4:159) that says “ the people of the book will accept Prophet Isa before he dies.When it is taken as meaning “Taking full control “ it confirms the verses of the Quran.

Please refer to explanation points 93, 101,133, 134, 278, 342, 456 to know more about whether Prophet Isa is dead or was raised above alive.

150. Can we question religious scholars? 

The verse (5:101) of the Quran says not to question Prophet Muhammad while he is being revealed with the verses of the Quran.

.Most of the the so called learned Muslim scholars while issuing religious edicts without any substantiation, cite this verse and tell people not to question them about proof of quranic verses or hadiths for basis of the edicts they issue.

The reason given in this verse says sometimes the questioner may be affected by the response from the Almighty. 

There were some people who used to question Prophet Muhammad about who fathered them.

(Hadith Book Bukhari :4621,4622.)

Such questions create great embarrassment for the person who questions, for example, if he gets the true answer regarding who his father was, he would would be mentally disturbed to a great extent, which until then according to him was otherwise.Hence questioning Prophet Muhammad was prohibited at times of revelations..

This verse does not ban people from clearing their doubts about their beliefs in religion but it does prohibit people from delving into matters that are not revealed or perhaps hidden away from men.

Religious scholars cannot get answers from God to men regarding hidden matters.Hence there is no question of any connection with this verse and getting doubts cleared from religious scholars.

.In general the Quran encourages people to question it, please refer to verse 16:43, 21:7.

We can come across in the following verses 2:189, 2:215, 2:217, 2:219, 2:220, 2:222, 5:4, 8:1, 17:85, 18:83, 20:105, 33:63, 51:12, 70:1 of the Quran the various questions put to Prophet Muhammad by people..

For more details please refer to explanation point 31.

149. The sky that gives back.

In this verse (86:11) we see a lovely epithet ‘the sky that gives back’ in place of just ‘the sky’ being used.

.There are numerous things the sky gives us back.

The water that evaporates from the seas, and various other water sources are returned to us in the form of rains.The sound waves that are thrown into the sky are returned in the same manner. 

It is because of the property of ‘the sky returning’ whatever is thrown into it we are able to get radio signals into our electrical and electronic gadgets.

The signals or information that are being sent into the skies are returned from a certain point after being blocked. .

Even more, the heat required by the earth is absorbed from the sun..All the heat that is directed towards the earth cannot be held back by it, resulting in an overheated and unbearable earth, hence it redirects the excess heat into the sky. The sky retains the excess heat and returns it to the earth where it is needed..Hence we see the sky functioning as a heat stabilizer serving the earth and true to the phrase ‘the sky that returns’ mentioned in the Quran.

The Almighty has created the sky with a feature to give back, and if we happen to ponder more and more about the sky we would find a lot more that is being returned by the sky.

Would anyone use an epithet ‘The sky that gives back’ that too 1442 years back. 

The fact that it is been disclosed by an illeterate Prophet Muhammad is more an evidence that Quran is the word of God.