Guide To Prosperity

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Communication from God does not happen to every individual. It only happened to Prophets who inform people of Allah's intent. People are not responsible for their actions until a Prophet is sent. Allah says, "We never punish until We have sent a messenger." This means that the purpose of our lives is tied with finding the true prophet and following his teachings. Our job finding them is the purpose of our lives.

We know someone is true in his claim to Prophethood through the miracles given to them by Allah. A miracle is a breaking of the normal observed order at the hands of a Prophet conjoined with a challenge to meet it. The miracle is as if Allah is telling us that this man is true in what he conveys and they are from Allah. If one cannot match it then one should realize that he cannot do it himself but through the Will of Allah.

Allah has created this universe in certain order. Every single day we see things working the same way. When a man comes and says he represents Allah and the proof is that the stick he is carrying will become a snake when he throws it, and that is what happens, this is a sign that Allah is lifting the norms of nature for this man and telling the people this man is truthful and he should be followed.

This is the case of Prophet Musa, Allah grants him peace. There are other miracles that manifested in his hands mentioned in the Qur'an, for example, the splitting of the sea. In the case of Prophet Isa, Allah grants him peace, among the miracles which were manifested in his hands were bringing the dead to life, curing leper, and creating a bird from a clay and then breathed life into it.

In the case of our Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, he had many miracles. The Qur'an was the greatest miracle. He lived for 40 years among his people and was known for his honesty. He was not able to read or write. At the age of 40, he made a claim to Prophethood and started reciting verses of the most astounding beauty and depth. These verses that he recited had magical effects on the audience.

The Arabs were people of language who were proud of their poetry and literature. They were people whose pride and dominant art form was beautiful language, who would vie in beautiful poetry. When they heard the Qur'an it was altogether a different experience. They were hearing something which really gripped them. It had them wondering and decided to call it magic and woo the Arabs to stay away from this man.

The verses that were recited to them show depth in language and absolute beauty in them. It is a miraculous eloquence. Eloquence is not about being flowery, but about being effective, using the best words to portray the best meaning ordered together in the best way that suits the needs and dictates of the circumstance. Human eloquence has a limit in which it is able to control the audience--perhaps with flashes of brilliance but Allah's speech is all brilliance--every word and every theme. The One who knows what people need and able to offer it, He is the One whose speech is mesmerized. All of it control the heartbeat, all are relevant, all the meanings are majestic, all of it keep one standing on end going through subtle transition from topic to topic. This was a powerful experience for the Arabs.

As an alternative to the charges of being a soothsayer or a madman or a disgruntled poet, there is the charge of a forger or fabricator applied to the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, when he produced the Message. This implies that there can be no revelation or inspiration from God. But if this is so, can they produce a work of man that can compare with the inspired Word of God? They cannot.

'Or they say, "He (Prophet Muhammad SAW) forged it (the Qur'an)." Say: "Bring you then ten forged Surahs (chapters) like unto it, and call whomsoever you can, other than Allah (to your help), if you speak the truth!" If then they answer you not, know then that it [the Revelation (this Qur'an)] is sent down with the Knowledge of Allah and that La ilaha illa Huwa: (none has the right to be worshiped but He)! Will you then be Muslims (those who submit to Islam)? Whosoever desires the life of the world and its glitter; to them We shall pay in full (the wages of) their deeds therein, and they will have no diminution therein. They are those for whom there is nothing in the Hereafter but Fire; and vain are the deeds they did therein. And of no effect is that which they used to do.' Qur'an Hud 11-13-16

"Or say they: He has invented it? Nay, but they will not believe! Then let them produce speech the like thereof, if they are truthful." Qur'an The Mount 52:33-34

The Arabs fought battles and died but they did not meet the challenge. Their inability to meet the challenge has been transmitted by mass transmission, which means there is no doubt that they did not meet the challenge.

For those who might say "I don't know Arabic, and so how could this be verified?", the answer to them as well that all our knowledge with respect to layman are based on what expert agreed upon. For example, what we know about the solar system to be true is because the experts agree to the facts. We accept them as facts even though we never been to the solar system. Similarly, if all of the scientist in the world discovered that toothpaste is deadly, you would accept this as true and not use toothpaste anymore. All of our knowledge, with respect to layman, work like that.

It is sufficient to say that the people who were contemporary to Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, were the greatest experts of the Arabic language and they all concurred that this Qur'an is miraculous. They concurred by their actions and refusal to meet the challenge despite the repetition and despite the ease of what they have been asked about.

In fact the inability or the non performance of the Arabs to match this revelation is stronger than following the experts about science. Why? Because they were enemies. If enemies bear witness you are on the truth then you are on the truth. The witness of enemies is stronger than witness of friends because they have an interest to disprove you. The Arabs, in laying down their lives and refusing to indicate that this is a crazy challenge, that it doesn't make sense, that everyone can do this, that we have done that, all of that is the witness of enemies to the truthfulness of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Like fire burns is a conventional norm, if we deny conventional norms, then we have to deny all our knowledge. The Arabs whose ways and religion are being insulted, who hated the Prophet and his message, who tried to kill him and his companions would want to put an end to Islam. The Arabs whose pride and dominant art form was beautiful language, who would vie in beautiful poetry, would stand up to a challenge in their own art. Had they felt that they could have done it, they would have done it and shown the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, to be a liar. Had they shown him to be a liar, he would not repeat the challenge, and people would not flock to him. We know this through mass transmission. This gives us knowledge that the Qur'an is miraculous in its language even if we do not know the language.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, had other miracles, for example, the splitting of the moon, water coming out from his fingers, hearing inanimate objects and his prayers were answered. The sum total of these miracles have come through mass transmission. So we know him to be true in his claim to Prophethood, which means that he is true and trustworthy in what he conveys from His Lord, which is a book of direct speech from Allah, the Qur'an, and his own sayings, the Sunna.

Every word of the Qur'an has reached us through mass transmission. Extreme effort was put into memorizing the Qur'an from the time of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and in every generation after that. People were preferred over others through their memorization. There were huge efforts to memorize in each city the companions and their students went to. There were huge efforts to document the Qur'an in writing and transmit throughout the lands (Kufa, Damascus, etc). All the sects that have appeared in Islam who denied this and that, but no sect have denied that the Qur'an has not been transmitted.

We have no doubt that the Qur'an "...is the Book, whereof there is no doubt, a guidance to those who are Al-Muttaqun [the pious and righteous persons who fear Allah much (abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which He has forbidden) and love Allah much (perform all kinds of good deeds which He has ordained)]" Qur'an Al-Baqarah 2:2

May Allah guides us, grants us tawfiq and makes us among His righteous slaves. Ameen. Please don't forget me in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam