Transcription
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And the consequence is for the righteous, and there is no aggression except against the oppressors.
And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without any partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His messenger.
The thing that distinguishes Islam from other beliefs is that we do not content ourselves with claiming that the truth is with us, but we are also capable of proving with evidence that Islam is the truth. Allah, the Almighty, in the Quran, when He speaks about the Jews and Christians, or the People of the Book, says: Allah, the Almighty, says (Al-Baqarah 2:111): "And they say, 'None will enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian.' That is [merely] their wishful thinking. Say, 'Produce your proof if you are truthful.'"
Proof is of a higher degree than evidence. Proof is the irrefutable, absolute, final truth that cannot be refuted. "Produce your proof if you are truthful." And since Allah, the Almighty, says this, it necessarily implies that we have proof to present and we have conclusive evidence if someone asks us about Islam. Because if you ask him: What is your evidence? Then he asks you the same question: What is your evidence? If you are asking me for evidence, Allah, the Almighty, says in the Quran (An-Naml 27:79): "So, rely upon Allah; indeed, you are upon the clear truth." Allah, the Almighty, says in the Quran (Al-Kahf 18:29): "And say, 'The truth is from your Lord.'" To whom? To the people! This truth is from your Lord. By the Lord of the heavens and the earth (Adh-Dhariyat 51:23), Allah, the Almighty, swears: "Indeed, it is the truth" - meaning the teachings of the Prophet, peace be upon him, from the Quran, and this message - "like that with which you are speaking." So, Allah, the Almighty, confirms in several places in the Quran and Hadith that this is the religion of truth.
Now, the question is: How many of those present among us today can represent the truth when needed? Meaning, when a person comes to you... We live here - or you who live here, because I came from elsewhere - in a non-Muslim country, isn't that right? The majority of people in this country are not Muslims now. The cases where you might encounter people who ask you for proof of its validity and that it is from Allah... The probability is very high. The question is: How many of us are capable of representing it and presenting the evidence: the first, the second, the third, the fourth... The proof, and I do not mean weak evidence... No! We are talking about proof now. It is incumbent upon us - especially since we live in a non-Muslim country - to engage in da'wah (invitation to Islam). We must convey the message to people. In this case, it is considered an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) because da'wah is usually a collective obligation (fard kifayah). But in this case, it is an individual obligation because the collective obligation has not been fulfilled. There are many people who have not heard anything about Islam; they only hear what the media tells them about Islam. So, this is what they hear. They have not heard anything good about Islam, and no one has conveyed the message to them. Sometimes, even your neighbors, you haven't spoken to them about it. Therefore, we must convey the message. This means it is also necessary to know how to demonstrate that Islam is the truth. This is first, and second, this is for you yourself, so that you reach the stage of certainty. You must die upon this certainty. This religion is not based on the sayings of so-and-so who think they know. We do not think, my brother. Allah, in the Quran, does not say it is merely a thought and perhaps it is the truth. Allah says this is certainty. Therefore, you must be absolutely certain that it is from Allah.
Now, your children and your family who live in a non-Muslim country will face many doubts from people and from all sides and from all ideologies, whether Christian, liberal, or other ideologies that exist today. And in order for them to refute these things, the foundation must be solid. If they do not have a solid, correct foundation, they will not be able to confront these doubts. Therefore... Glory be to Allah. Since we do not have much time today, I will try to summarize and present some types of evidence for Islam. Because if we sat down to talk about the evidence for Islam, no one would go home today. But we will summarize it, Allah willing, very briefly. First, I will mention the types of evidence for Islam... So, we call them proof, because they are very numerous. The types are many, and the evidence is many, and therefore it is overwhelming, such that you cannot refute it, nor can you reject it, nor can you oppose it. First and foremost, we will present the types. I believe this is the correct way to talk about the evidence for Islam. There are different types of evidence: and within these types, there are a number of pieces of evidence. Let's say, for example: The first type: Prophecies of the future. Within this type, there are many Hadith about prophecies and verses about prophecies. And the second type is something different, and within it, there are many examples that can be presented. To this extent, the evidence for Islam is strong; it has many types, and within these types, there is a large number of pieces of evidence that can be presented.
We will start with the Prophet, peace be upon him, and look at his claim of prophethood. We will look at the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and the title will be: The Claim of Prophethood. The Prophet, peace be upon him, claimed to be a messenger from Allah, and he claimed to be a prophet, and he claimed that Allah, the Almighty, revealed to him. None of us is ignorant of this reality; we are all aware of this matter. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, lived among his people for 40 years. During those 40 years, he did not worship idols, nor did he accept all the kinds of indecencies that his people committed, and he himself did not commit them. Allah, the Almighty, kept him pure in this sense, to prepare him to be a messenger. He used to retreat to a cave called "Hira," and he tried to worship Allah, the Almighty, to the best of his ability. And while he was there, the Angel Gabriel came to him, and then the first verses of the Quran were revealed (Al-'Alaq 96:1): "Read, in the name of your Lord who created." Now, when this happened to him, he returned to his people. First, he returned, and his wife Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her, began to calm him down because of the supernatural experience he had gone through. Then, later, Allah commanded him to convey the message (Al-Muddaththir 74:1-2): "O you who enfold yourselves, arise and warn." So, he arose to convey the message. And when he began to convey the message, he came with a claim; and the claim is what we just mentioned. "I was in the cave of Hira, and I met the Angel Gabriel, peace be upon him, and he conveyed this message to me." Now, this is the claim. Now, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him... We can say, by looking at everyone who claims something in human history, when looking at their claims, you must be able to prove whether the person is truthful or not. Because, as the scholars said, including Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and others, they said: The difference between a liar and a prophet of Allah is like the difference between the sun and the moon. If you cannot differentiate between a liar who lies about Allah, and lies about the messengers of Allah, and lies in everything, and between a truthful person, then I don't know if you have a mind! The difference between them is like the difference between the sun and the moon. So, you can easily distinguish a liar from a truthful person. Therefore, you see many liars who appeared after the Prophet, peace be upon him, and claimed prophethood. The easiest thing to do is to refute them and explain their situation. For example, this person who appeared, named Joseph Smith, made false prophecies about the future, and he was racist; even his followers said he was racist, his followers! Then he claims to be sent by God. So, it is not difficult to distinguish a liar from a messenger of Allah.
In the case of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, he came with that message. We say - by looking at his life and studying it - what is the likelihood? Now, in this case, we already believe in a Creator, and we are not discussing belief in the Creator. There is a Creator. Now, after believing in the Creator and His existence, we move on to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Now, the question is: If he claims to be sent by that Creator, how did he behave? Is it possible that he was not truthful in his words? And his words were not truthful. If he was not truthful in his words, there must be a reason. Now, these reasons, what would they be? Financial gains? Why do people lie usually? Do they fear something, for example? Or for financial gains? Whatever it is, these are reasons why people lie: financial gains, or fear of something, or reaching authority in society to bring about change. These are the reasons why people lie. Now, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was promised and offered wealth. They came to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and said to him: Stop the da'wah you are doing and the message you are conveying. "If it is only desire that drives you, then choose any of the women of Quraysh, and we will marry you to ten of them. And if you desire kingship, we will make you king over us." "And if you desire wealth, we will gather our wealth for you until you are the wealthiest among us. And if you desire honor, we will make you our chief." Just ask for what you want, and we will give it to you. If he were not truthful, and he desired material gains, the first thing he would do is: Yes, give it to me, and I will stop! And he would become king, and he would have wealth and as many women as he wanted. But the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: "Do you see this sun?" In a sound Hadith, because many people cite another Hadith, but this one is more authentic. "I am no more able to abandon that for you than to light a torch from it." Meaning, Allah commanded me to do this, and I am not doing this for myself. And we see this reflected even more when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was in the Madinah phase. "The Messenger of Allah, Muhammad, peace be upon him, died, and his armor... What? Who knows? ...and his armor was mortgaged to a Jew." He gave his armor to a Jew to use in exchange for money. Now, the question that might be asked is: The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was the leader of the Muslims, and he had wealth. He could have asked Abu Bakr or Uthman. Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, was wealthy, and Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him, was wealthy. Give me the money. Give me the money. Give me the money. The scholars explained the reason why the Prophet, peace be upon him, did this: it was his modesty in asking people for money. He did not exploit his status as a messenger from Allah as a means to take people's money. He did not do that. Therefore, he hired from a non-Muslim, because if he went to a Muslim, he would say to him: O Messenger of Allah! Take whatever you want! Whatever you want from me, I will give it to you. And he would refuse to take any compensation from the Prophet, peace be upon him, because he is the messenger of Allah. Therefore, he went to a non-Muslim who did not believe in his message, because he would deal with him justly, and in that way, he would not try to give him everything he owned. And for that reason, he did what he did.
So, when you look at the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him, this was not only before the message, but also after it. After the Prophet, peace be upon him, was empowered and possessed all that power, etc., he was also not seeking financial gains. He was not seeking money and women, even though he could have obtained everything he wanted. From here, we know and see that this is not possible. Some people who lack intellect use the term "delusion." Delusion is when you believe in something that contradicts overwhelming evidence that proves the opposite of what you believe! There is clear, overwhelming evidence, like the existence of the sun, but you delude yourself into not believing in the sun and contradict the overwhelming evidence, even though you see it before your eyes and feel its heat. So, they used to describe the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in this way. But if we look at the life of the Prophet, peace be upon him, do you think that more than 100,000 people would follow someone who is characterized by even a small amount of delusion? Do you think that more than 100,000 companions... Before the death of the Prophet, peace be upon him, he delivered his last sermon in front of 100,000 companions, which was the "Farewell Sermon." More than 100,000 people! Do you think they would not notice that? When Ibrahim, the son of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, died, people said about the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him: He is the messenger of Allah. Why is he the messenger of Allah? Because the death of his son coincided with the solar eclipse. This is evidence - according to those who believe in superstitions - that he is the deluded messenger of Allah who believes in something that contradicts overwhelming evidence. The first thing he would say is: Of course! This is happening because of me. Because this is an ideal situation. Because the Prophet did not say that. Rather, they said it on his behalf. They said that this happened because of the death of the son of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. But the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, what did he say? He said: "They are two signs from among the signs of Allah. They do not eclipse because of the death of anyone, nor because of his life. So, when you see them, hasten to prayer." This shows that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was aware of what he was saying. He did not just believe in arbitrary beliefs, but he looked at these events, received revelation, and then conveyed it to people as Allah, the Almighty, sent it down to him.
Now, some people will also say: He was trying to reform society. We have already responded to that. They offered him authority and power. If he wanted to reform society, that is the first thing you must do. Take authority and power and reform society, and the story is over. But the Prophet, peace be upon him, refused that. And not only that, but if you want to reform society, you would want to bring people closer to you. Would you tell them: Your book is distorted - to the People of the Book - Jesus did not die, and the Trinity does not exist, and the Jews worship their rabbis... Would you tell them these things? Or would you tell them what brings them closer to you in order to reform society? This shows that the Prophet, peace be upon him, speaks the truth, whether people like the truth or hate it. Some people - also without brain cells - say: This is a message from Satan. Satan came to him in the mountain, and all that. They believe that the Angel Gabriel came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, only once. The Angel Gabriel came to the Prophet, peace be upon him, many times, and on some of those occasions, the companions were with him, as in the Hadith of Abu Hurayrah and Umar. When Gabriel came, he asked him about Islam, Iman (faith), and Ihsan (excellence). I am sure many of you know this Hadith. The Angel Gabriel came to him in the form of a man: "a man of intensely white clothes and intensely black hair. No sign of travel could be seen on him, and none of us knew him." For example, I am walking in the desert... You know the desert, its dust, and its storms. I am a traveler, and I am not from the city, and the people of the city know their people best, and no sign of travel can be seen on me. So, they saw this, and therefore they asked the Prophet, peace be upon him: Who is this? He said: "That is Gabriel. He came to you to teach you the matters of your religion." They say: This is from Satan. We say to them: Well, what Satan is this that forbids the worship of idols and adultery, and commands you to worship Allah alone, and to be good to your neighbors...? To give charity, to believe in Jesus, Moses, Abraham, and the prophets and messengers of Allah, to worship Allah alone and not to associate anything with Him. To break all these idols that you see around you. Satan is your greatest enemy, and Satan is the cause of tribulations. He did not prostrate, so Allah, the Almighty, cursed him, and he is an evident enemy, and he has steps, do not follow them. Whenever you want to recite the Quran, seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan... What Satan does this? Explain to us what Satan teaches everyone to avoid all the teachings of Satan? Therefore, the absurdity of these claims is amazing. Glory be to Allah. And what is amazing is that these people make these claims and think they are doing good. Even Jesus, in their book which they attribute to him as being correct, was accused by the Jewish Pharisees at that time, and they said to him: "You are sent by Satan." And one of them replied: "And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand." (Mark 3:25) How can I call to something that contradicts me? If I am from Satan, how can I call you to good? This is the meaning of his words, in summary. And this is in their book, but despite that, they say: The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, does this and that. They do anything to disbelieve in his prophethood and his message.
Muhammad, peace be upon him. In addition, there is external evidence of the prophethood of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in previous books. You can look at the Book of Isaiah: 42 or (Deuteronomy 18:18) in many books prior to the mission of the Prophet, peace be upon him, from their books. All these things lead us to an inevitable conclusion... Why is it an inevitable conclusion? Because there is no alternative explanation. You cannot find any... And I welcome your attempt, and let's start with those present here. Can any of you give me an alternative explanation? What could it have been other than what we mentioned? Did he say something contrary to the truth to gain some kind of benefit? We have already mentioned that. And we have already touched upon the issue of delusion. Did he do it to reform society? We have already mentioned that. From Satan or from another source? We have already mentioned that. Did he take it from the Jews and Christians? Alright. If he took it from the Jews and Christians, why does he refute the beliefs of the Jews and Christians? And why does the Quran contain information that is not found in the books of the Jews and Christians? Where did he get it from? What is the source of that information? If it is from the books of the Jews and Christians, or whatever it is, first, it contradicts their beliefs. And whoever gave him this information, when the Prophet, peace be upon him, gained authority, why didn't he say this information is from me? I am the new leader! Allah, the Almighty, says in the Quran (At-Takwir 81:22): "And your companion is not [by reason of revelation] afflicted with madness." Allah, the Almighty, used the word "your companion" to indicate that he lived among them for 40 years. You know him! He is not a stranger to you. People used to live together in one society, and they knew each other. So, if that is the case, then this companion of yours is not mad, because you lived with him and you know the places he traveled to and the places he did not travel to, and you used to see him leaving his house and returning to it. If he had taken it from someone, they would have known from whom he took it, especially after he spoke of his prophethood and his message. All eyes were on him, as they say, isn't that right? So, if he went anywhere, right or left, they would immediately know that he went to this house or that location.
Many Christians mention Waraqah ibn Nawfal, may Allah have mercy on him. They say: Waraqah ibn Nawfal - scholars differ on whether he was a companion or not, so we say may Allah be pleased with him or may Allah have mercy on him - but generally, in their words, they say: He brought it from Waraqah ibn Nawfal, because when revelation came to him, he went to Waraqah ibn Nawfal first. Waraqah ibn Nawfal was the cousin of Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her. He used to study the books of the Jews and Christians. And the person who took him to Waraqah ibn Nawfal was Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her. And this was not a suggestion from the Prophet, peace be upon him. When he went to Waraqah ibn Nawfal, Waraqah ibn Nawfal said to him: This is the same angel, "This is the Namus that was revealed to Moses. Oh, I wish I were a young man then, and would that I were alive when your people would drive you out." So, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "Will they drive me out?" Because he did not expect that. He was from the nobility of the Quraysh tribe and was respected, and he did not expect this. So, Waraqah said: Yes. No man ever came with the like of what you have come with except that he was treated with enmity. Then Waraqah ibn Nawfal met the Prophet, peace be upon him, perhaps again, and then he died. So, how could he be a source of information for the Prophet, peace be upon him, for 23 years, when he died? And perhaps he met him once or twice... This is not logical. So, we say to them: We welcome any other alternative explanations. And by the way, this is not the first time I have spoken about this topic. We talk about this topic with non-Muslims all the time. There are no other alternative explanations. And if all other possibilities are false, then only one explanation remains, which is that his words are the truth. This is the first thing we can present to demonstrate that Islam is the truth from Allah, the Almighty.
Furthermore, the message he brought, which is the Quran. And here I can also speak for a long time, but I do not want to take too much time. But the Quran that the Prophet, peace be upon him, brought, came with a Quran that is considered the most eloquent speech in the Arabic language. Because the Arabs at that time were known for the Arabic language, and the Quran came to challenge them in their field of expertise, so that they would not have an excuse of ignorance of its meanings. And many of them said: This is magic. They called the speech magic because of the miraculous nature of the Quran, and many of us do not understand it, including the Arabs! So, those Arabs were specialists in their field, and therefore it reached the point where they said it was magic. Many of us do not understand the nature and greatness of the Quran as we should, and therefore we do not understand why it reached the point where they said it was magic. In the Arabic language, they have prose and poetry and some other things. The Quran has its own classification in language; it is neither prose, nor poetry, nor ordinary speech, but it has its own classification. And it does not follow the pattern of Arabic poetic meters, but it has its own classification in the Arabic language. And the Quran challenged them to bring something like it. Meaning, the structure of the Quran, the prophecies, the eloquence, and all these things in the Quran, and the structure of the Quran, because it introduced new things and new words into the Arabic language, and used old words from the Arabic language that were not known before, and introduced new grammatical structures into the language, and introduced new word constructions into the language. To simplify it for you, it's like me speaking to you in English with English letters, but I am using new grammatical structures. For example, when you conjugate a verb, you add "ing" to the end... I am not doing that. I am using new grammatical structures and using the same letters you use, and I am using words you have never heard before, but you understand the meaning I am conveying. And I am using old words whose meaning you know in a new way, and you fully understand the new meanings I am using, and I combine words in the language in a new grammatical style that you have not encountered before, and yet you understand it. And I will give you a brief, quick example. In Surah Al-Fatihah (1:1-7), for example, Allah, the Almighty, says: "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful." If I wanted to use this English translation, although I have spoken about this before, and that the words "Ar-Rahman" and "Ar-Rahim" have other interpretations, but generally: "In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful." Both words, "Ar-Rahman" and "Ar-Rahim," are derived from the word "mercy." Now, have you ever heard in history, in any language, someone referring to himself as "The Great Great"? Have you ever heard of this? No, because you don't define a person... We haven't heard of this in any language, let alone the Arabic language, where you define yourself and praise yourself with two consecutive attributes derived from the same root. This did not exist in the language of the Arabs. Then His saying: "Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds." The word "Al-Hamd" (praise) was not previously used by the Arabs with the definite article "Al-". This means, all praise and all thanks are for Allah, the Almighty. They had never used this before in their poetry. "Al-Hamd" with "Al-" at the beginning of their speech. Then Allah, the Almighty, says: "The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful (3). Sovereign of the Day of Recompense (4)." Have you ever heard in any language of "Master of the Hour," or "Master of the Year," or "Master of the Week"? Have you ever heard this expression? Ownership of time is a concept that humans have never thought of before, but the Creator owns everything, including time. Therefore, this description reveals divinity. Its mention shows us that this is from the Creator, the Owner of all things, because Allah, the Almighty, owns time, and the Day of Recompense, or the Day of Judgment. We are familiar with the day of the event or the day of the match, but we have no knowledge of the concept of the Day of Recompense or the Day of Judgment. We do not use this at all in language, and even in languages other than Arabic. These things reveal their miraculous nature even in English, so what about Arabic? And praise be to Allah, the examples are many and numerous. And there is a beautiful book written in this regard, titled "The Miracle: Re-reading the Linguistic Miracles in the Holy Quran" by Dr. Bassam Sa'eh. And I believe its title in English is "The Miracle" by Dr. Bassam SAEH. But the English translation did not impress me much, and it is not a translation of the entire book because it is a very heavy topic in the Arabic language. And this is an objective challenge, and an objective measure. And I can do the same with every Surah. I can show you the new words in it, and the new usages, and all of that. I can show you this in every Surah. And this is what Dr. Bassam Sa'eh did. He gives real examples, then gives the objective criterion, because it is not a subjective criterion based on language, like Shakespeare, whose speech seems beautiful... No, no... It is an objective criterion. Every Surah has one, two, three, four... Use this criterion and bring us something like it using the Arabic language and letters. So, this is an objective challenge to people. And the Quran is preserved! Unlike all other books, it has been preserved, and it is easy to memorize. Allah, the Almighty, bestowed this unique characteristic upon the Quran, which was not in previous holy books. You find a blind child of six years old who memorizes the entire Quran from beginning to end. We have seen children aged three, four, or five years old who memorize it as well. This is not common, but it happens. They memorize the entire Quran from beginning to end. You will not find this with any book in the world. There is none. We are not talking about six years old, but rather: Bring us all the memorizers of the Christian book, or one person on Earth, and present this challenge here until the Day of Resurrection. Bring me one person who memorizes the Christian book from beginning to end in any language they want. If they want to memorize it first in Hebrew, then Greek - that is up to them - or in the English translation... One person, even today, you will not find a single person who memorizes the New Testament alone. Forget about the Old Testament, just the New Testament, because perhaps it might be too much for them... You will not find it! But for the Quran, we find millions of people. And Allah, the Almighty, says (Al-Qamar 54:17): "And We have certainly made the Quran easy for remembrance." So, this is something that Allah, the Almighty, Himself did. Therefore, we see this miraculous nature of the Quran and the eloquence of the Quran that surpasses all imagination. Glory be to Allah. When I listen to the Quran, and when a person listens to the Quran, even if you are not Arab, you feel a feeling when you listen to the words of Allah. It is not necessary to be Arab to feel it. And I might speak to you in other Arabic words, but you will not have the same feeling at all.
Now, in this Quran also... First, we talked about the Prophet, peace be upon him, then we mentioned that the Quran presented a challenge to bring something like it. And these are among the challenges that Allah has placed in the Quran: "Bring a Surah like it." (At-Tur 52:34) They could not! Alright, "Bring ten Surahs." (Hud 11:13) They could not... "Bring one Surah!" (Al-Baqarah 2:23). Some people say "one verse," but this is not correct because some verses are "Alif, Lam, Mim." Three letters, right? The challenge is not related to verses but to Surahs. And the shortest Surah consists of one line (Al-Kawthar 108:1-3): "Indeed, We have granted you, [O Muhammad], al-Kawthar. So pray to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him alone]. Indeed, your enemy is the one cut off." Finished! I think it's ten words, if I'm not mistaken. One line. "Bring something like it!" And no one has been able to "overcome" - if the expression is correct - this challenge.
Now, from this Quran and from the Hadith of the Prophet, peace be upon him, we derive another verse, which is history. And this is a very interesting topic. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, lived in the desert of Arabia, right? Now, there are historical things mentioned in Islam that are not found in previous religious books, and were not mentioned in the heritage of those cultures. We find them today, and we realize that they are historical facts. And by using them, we can confirm that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is indeed a messenger from Allah. We have already proven that, but we are increasing the evidence so that there is no room for doubt. One of these pieces of evidence is that the Quran talks about the people of Pharaoh, for example, and Allah, the Almighty, says (Ad-Dukhan 44:29): "And the heaven and earth did not weep for them." Many of us might say: What does this refer to? And what is meant? Why are these specific terms used? Now, there is something called the Rosetta Stone. And this Rosetta Stone, we used it, and it is written in hieroglyphics, then translated into Demotic, and finally into Greek. And thus, we were able to read hieroglyphics. We found the Rosetta Stone, and we found a translation on it: from hieroglyphics to Demotic to Greek. So, now, we understand hieroglyphics, because we translated it from one language to another to Greek, which is a language we understand. Then we used it to understand the writings of the "Egyptians." When was the Rosetta Stone discovered? In 1799. Therefore, only recently have we been able to read the writings found in the pyramids of the Pharaohs and in their tombs. This was discovered recently, and thus we were able to read that information. And this was long after the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him. A thousand years after the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and he was not able to read hieroglyphics at that time. Now, we found an artifact, and what does it say? The heaven weeps for you, and the earth weeps for you. When you ascend to heaven as a star. The Egyptians believed that the heaven and the earth wept for them when they died. Therefore, Allah, the Almighty, said about them after their death: "And the heaven and earth did not weep for them." The question is: How did the Prophet, peace be upon him, know that these people believed in these things? And He placed in the Quran a response to their beliefs, saying: You believe that the heaven and the earth weep for you, but the heaven and the earth did not weep for you after your death. We read it and pass over it, and we do not see in it direct references and responses to these people and their beliefs in the Quran, and you will not find it in other religious books.
The Quran talks about Joseph... and I will give some examples. Joseph and Moses, peace be upon them. Allah, the Almighty, when He speaks about the king in the time of Joseph, He does not name him Pharaoh. Allah called him "Al-Aziz" (the Mighty). And Al-Aziz said... (Yusuf 12:30, 51, 78, 88), "in the religion of the king." (Yusuf 12:76) Allah uses the term "king," and does not use the term Pharaoh (verses: 43, 50, 54, 72, 76). But when Allah speaks about Moses, He says Pharaoh (Ghafir 40:36): "And Pharaoh said, 'O Haman, construct for me a tower...'" In the time of Moses, He says "Pharaoh," and in the time of Joseph, He says "king." If you refer to previous religious books... to those who say that the Quran is copied from the Jews and Christians. If you refer to the Christian book, you will find that it applies the title "Pharaoh" to both kings - in the time of Joseph and Moses, peace be upon them. So, now, we have a difference. The Quran calls him king in the time of Joseph, while the Christian book calls him Pharaoh. Which one is correct? One of them must be historically mistaken, because Pharaoh and king are different titles. Today, we learn... What do we learn? We learn that the term Pharaoh was used later in the New Kingdom in the time of Moses, peace be upon him, while in the Second Kingdom or the Middle Kingdom or the Middle Kingdom II, the term used was king, because it was the period of the Hyksos, and they were the ones ruling that land. So, he was not Pharaoh, because the term Pharaoh was applied to the palace, and later it was applied to the king in the New Kingdom in the time of Moses. Therefore, historically, saying that the ruler in the time of Joseph, peace be upon him, was called Pharaoh, is not a sound statement. Therefore, the Christian book in this case is historically mistaken, by the agreement of all who have studied Egyptian history, while the Quran is correct. This shows two things. First: How did the Prophet, peace be upon him, know this information? Second: He did not take this information from other sources, because if he had... As you know, whoever cheats in school copies everything his friend writes. He will not change it to something completely different, because he knows he will not get the same grades, but he tries to get as many points as possible. This shows that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, did not do that.
Now, also, Pharaoh claimed to be [a god], and we all know this, don't we? We all know that Pharaoh said, "I am your most exalted lord." (An-Nazi'at 79:24) Pharaoh said this to his people and said, "I have not known you to have a god other than myself." (Al-Qasas 28:38) So, he claimed divinity. What is amazing is that the Christian book mentioned many things about Pharaoh, but it never mentioned that he claimed divinity. And this is another unique matter. The Jewish and Christian scriptures today do not mention this fact. Today, we know that this is a fact, because we found an artifact that shows that Pharaoh in the time of Moses - and this is by the agreement of the majority of historians - is Ramesses II. We find that Ramesses II was crowned as a god by two Egyptian gods: Horus and Seth. Horus and Seth were Egyptian gods, and they crowned him as a god, made him a god. And this was found in the Abu Simbel temple in Egypt. In this case, we see that Pharaoh rose to the rank of divinity over his people. And this is a matter of great importance, but we do not find these details in the books of the Jews and Christians. But we find them in the Quran. Where did the Prophet, peace be upon him, get this information from? This is a question we ask: Where did he get it from? He could not read hieroglyphics, and he could not, because translation was non-existent, and people were not educated, and he did not travel to Egypt and read hieroglyphics and then record the history of those people. And I will tell you something very funny. What do those who disbelieve in the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, do? Every time they change their statements! The Prophet, peace be upon him, took from the Greeks. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, took from the Jews and Christians. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, took from the Egyptians. He had books with vast knowledge, so he took something from the Greeks, and he took from these and those, and left all the mistakes and took only the correct information. They choose to believe this over believing that he is the messenger of Allah, because they are not seeking the truth, and they have chosen to disbelieve in his prophethood and his message. So, this is another example of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Another example, and we will conclude with historical examples, because I can give more and more, but we will use it to move to the next topic.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: "The land of Arabia will return to meadows and rivers..." The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said this. First, it contains a claim about the past, because he says: "will return," meaning it was like that before. Today, we have the magazine Nature for the Middle East, and the magazine Nature, perhaps many people know it. They have an article talking about the greening of the deserts of Arabia and so on. They explain that 5,000 years ago, there were traces of ten thousand ancient lakes, and they saw them using satellites. As far as I know, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, did not have satellites! There are 10,000 ancient lakes, and there are excavations. As far as I know, the Prophet, peace be upon him, could not examine excavations! Excavations of animals like whales and elephants... which live in abundant water. There can be no fossils of these animals except in this type of land, and it had large quantities of water, indicating that it was meadows and rivers, five thousand years before the time of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, long before him, thousands of years before him... So, it clarifies that.
Now, let's quickly move to the next evidence, which is prophecies of the future that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, spoke about. He said: "It will return..." meaning it will return to its former state in the future. And today, we see this. Search for: "NASA Saudi Arabia greening or Arabian Peninsula deserts." They show you using satellite images from the late 20th century how it is transforming from yellow to green. It is completely transforming from yellow to green. And we see this today... How were they able to do this? Thanks to advanced means, they were able to access groundwater and brought a glacier to Kuwait, Qatar, or one of the neighboring countries to change the weather, and they used chemicals to help them get rain... And all these things. And none of this was known to someone living in the Arabian desert. There was no technological advancement then to predict its occurrence. But we see it happening today. And thus, we see the fulfillment of this prophecy. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him - in a very well-known prophecy - said: "And you will see the barefoot, naked, destitute shepherds competing in building tall buildings." What is the tallest building in the world today, and where is it located? Burj Khalifa, in Dubai. Fifty years ago, it was a desert. What happened? They found oil, and oil had no value until this day, because we use it in technology. But in the past, it was just black stuff coming out of the ground. But now, it has value. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "The earth will throw out its ingots like pillars of gold and silver." And thanks to these treasures, he said: "Wealth will increase among you, and it will overflow." So, the earth will throw out its ingots, and wealth will increase among you and overflow, and you will compete in building. And this is exactly what we see happening today. Who is doing this? The barefoot, naked, destitute Arab nomads, as the Prophet, peace be upon him, said. And what are they doing? Competing in building tall buildings, as the Prophet, peace be upon him, said. And the means, the Prophet, peace be upon him, mentioned them. All of this, we see with our own eyes. There are prophecies in the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and after him, and today, throughout this period! Some prophecies in the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, such as his uncle Abu Lahab, who was a bitter enemy and did everything in his power to prevent the message of the Prophet, peace be upon him - he and his wife. And verses from the Quran were revealed to the Prophet, peace be upon him, talking about Abu Lahab. Whenever the Prophet, peace be upon him, went out to speak to people about Islam, he would follow him and say to people: "Do not obey him, for he is a liar." Do not listen to him. If he tells you the sky is blue, it is green. Do not listen to him. So, Allah revealed a Quran concerning Abu Lahab, and said (Al-Masad 111:1-5): "May the hands of Abu Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he. His wealth will not avail him or that which he gained. He will [enter] to burn in a flaming Fire, And his wife [as well] - the carrier of firewood. Around her neck is a rope of twisted palm-fiber." Allah, the Almighty, revealed these verses, informing that his fate is the Fire. Now, he could have refuted Islam! If he had come to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and said to him: "I have accepted Islam." This would have refuted the claim! How can this be revelation then, if he says he will die in disbelief and enter the Fire, while he has accepted Islam? You have made a claim, and this contradicts your claim! And after the revelation of this verse, Abu Lahab died nine or ten years later and did not accept Islam. He could have invalidated the entire message, but he did not. Someone might say: He could not, because the Quran confirmed it, and if he had said it, people would not have believed him... No! We take people at their apparent. If he... There were hypocrites in the time of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and they did not believe inwardly, but they believed outwardly. So, if he were a hypocrite, that would also refute the message, because the Prophet commanded us to judge people by their outward appearance. Therefore, if he had only claimed that, it would have been enough to prove the invalidity of this message. But he could not do that, because the Lord, Creator of the heavens and the earth, is the One who informed that he would die in disbelief.
The Battle of Badr is another example, where the number of believers was 300, and the disbelievers were 1000, without equipment or strength, because it was in the early days of Islam. And Allah promised the believers victory, and Allah said (Al-Qamar 54:45): "The multitude will be defeated, and they will turn [their] backs." And this is exactly what happened. And there is a narration from Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, where he said: "The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, used to show us the places where the people of Badr would fall yesterday" - meaning who would die among the disbelievers of Quraysh - "He would say, 'This is the place where so-and-so will fall tomorrow, if Allah wills.' He said, 'He would say, "This is the place where so-and-so will fall tomorrow, if Allah wills,"' and he would place his hand on the place of his fall. 'He would say, "This is the place where so-and-so will fall tomorrow, if Allah wills."'" Umar ibn Al-Khattab said: "By Him Who sent him with the truth, they did not exceed the boundaries that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, set." What will you say? Is this not enough to say that he is a messenger from Allah? Is it not enough?
The Prophet, peace be upon him, named the countries that Islam would enter by name. Islam will enter Egypt, Constantinople - in Turkey - India, Pakistan, the Levant - which is Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine - and Yemen... by name! All these countries! He named them and said that Islam would enter them. He said: You will conquer the empires of Rome and Persia. He said: "When Khosrow perishes, there will be no Khosrow after him. And when Caesar perishes, there will be no Caesar after him." If the Emperor of Rome and the Emperor of Persia die, they will be the last two emperors. How did he know these things? He speaks about the two greatest empires of that time, and with him...
A group of Bedouin Arabs with no technology or anything at all, and he talks about the two greatest empires of that time, as if the Eskimos were talking about Russia and America and saying: "We will control Russia and America." And you, from the Eskimos, would laugh at them. Wouldn't you? But this is what happened! Islam entered all the countries that the Prophet ﷺ named. The Prophet ﷺ spoke about the widespread spread of diseases and how immorality would spread, and consequently, new diseases that were not present in previous generations would appear, new sexually transmitted diseases. How many newly discovered sexually transmitted diseases are there? We heard about monkeypox. I heard it's prevalent here in New York, and all these new sexually transmitted diseases, how did the Prophet ﷺ come to know this information? By the way, as I said: due to lack of time, otherwise I would have given you dozens of examples. And here, I can give you dozens of prophecies mentioned by the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, but how many proofs do you need to be convinced? Sheikh Al-Albani, may God have mercy on him, said something very beautiful. He said: "The one who seeks the truth is sufficed by one proof, while the one who follows his desires is not sufficed by a thousand proofs." It doesn't matter, he is not looking for proofs, nor is he looking for the truth.
From here, we move to another type of evidence, which is when the Quran talks about the natural world and natural phenomena. The Quran talks about the natural world and natural phenomena: mountains, skies, and rivers. And I want you to think about this matter. So far, the Prophet ﷺ possesses a PhD in history according to those disbelievers, and a PhD in Greek theology, and a PhD in Egyptian theology, and a PhD in all theological sciences from all historical eras, and a PhD in the books of Jews and Christians. And now, he will have a PhD in all specializations of natural sciences, not just one specialization, because all specializations of natural sciences require a PhD. Geology, archaeology, cosmology... require a PhD in each one of them, because he talks about these things. Because the Quran talks about everything. It talks about humans, and it talks about the universe, and it talks about everything around us. Even someone with a PhD will make mistakes, by the way, because natural sciences change, and therefore, it is higher than a PhD. So they accept all of this, but the Messenger of God? No! No! His claim of prophethood is not a reasonable explanation!
So, the Prophet ﷺ received revelation from God Almighty; it is the Quran, and the Quran talks about everything. God Almighty talks about clouds. I will give you an example of clouds. Any one of us, let's be honest, when we look at clouds, do you think they are heavy or light? Very soft and beautiful, floating in the air... What would you say? Imagine someone living in the desert, what would he think, in your opinion? Very light. But how does God Almighty talk about them in the Quran? (Ar-Ra'd 13:12) "And He produces clouds that produce thunder, praising Him with praise and [also] the angels from fear of Him. And He sends thunderbolts and strikes with them whom He wills, yet they dispute about God, while He is severe in force [in retribution]." Today, natural scientists tell us that these clouds weigh tons. And today, we can comprehend heavy objects flying, because we have airplanes, right? They weigh tons, yet they fly in the air, and they are huge airplanes. Therefore, flying does not necessarily require lightness. But we are talking about someone who lived in the Arabian desert and contemplated things, and we are not talking about someone in the 21st century. And I want you, whenever the Quran claims something, to go back yourselves to 1400 years ago and what people believed then. If you imagine people's beliefs at that time, you would go crazy and not believe what the Quran says. So God here indicates that heavy clouds weigh tons, and this is the accurate description of these clouds.
God Almighty talks about mountains, and God says that these mountains help maintain the Earth's balance. "lest it should shift with you" (An-Nahl 16:15). These mountains are anchors so that the Earth does not shake; they stabilize it. He also called them pegs (An-Naba' 78:7), like those used to stabilize a tent. The largest part of the peg is embedded in the ground, and only a small part is visible. If we look at mountains today, this is precisely what mountains do. First, the largest part of the mountain is embedded in the ground, because they are formed through colliding tectonic plates. Thus, a part rises, and the largest part—because the collisions happen below—goes down. So it is precisely like this, and how does it stabilize the Earth? Because the Earth is composed of the crust, then the upper mantle, then the lower mantle, then the core. So this is the shape of the Earth. Mountains press on the Earth's crust, and since it moves due to flowing lava, the movement of the Earth below causes the plates to collide with each other. When something pushes you, are you slow or fast? You are slow! For example, if a ship is loaded with heavy luggage, it becomes slower. Since these mountains press on the Earth's crust, it becomes slower, leading to fewer collisions.
Now, imagine that today we are unaware of this information, and you tell me that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, 1400 years ago, knew it! Today, most of us here have probably never heard this information, but you tell me that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is informing us about the effect of mountains? The amount of things mentioned in the Quran is amazing. God Almighty talks about the expansion of the universe, and it is known that the universe is expanding (Adh-Dhariyat 51:47). God Almighty says (Al-Mu'minun 23:30): "Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then do they not believe?" In this verse, God talks about... Excuse me! Here he talks about creating every living thing from water. So this is another verse. We know that everything is made of cells, and cells are made of 60% to 70% water. But also, God Almighty talks about the expansion of the universe, saying (Adh-Dhariyat 51:47): "And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expanders." And the heaven—meaning the universe and what is around us—We constructed with "strength" (bi-aydin); it is from the verb "aada, yu'oodu": from power. "And indeed, We are [its] expanders." As commentators like As-Sa'di and Ibn Kathir said: "We expanded its regions." And now we know about this. Using the Hubble telescope, we were able to observe in the 20th century that celestial bodies are moving away from each other, as a result of a phenomenon known as redshift. Redshift is the increase in the wavelength of light emitted from galaxies and celestial bodies due to their speed of recession from us. Then you tell me that 1400 years ago, there was a person who knew about redshift, the wavelength from galaxies, and the Hubble telescope? But this is what the Quran says. And I want you to think about this matter. Don't think about the things the Quran got right, but think about the things the Quran could have gotten wrong. How many are they? The Quran consists of more than 6000 verses. How many verses talk about the Earth and humans...? And if you took the beliefs of people 1400 years ago, it would be full of problems, just as people tried to look at the first chapters of the Christian book and how they contradict each other... the creation of the sun, moon, and earth. And therefore, many Christians, after "scientific progress," left Christianity. Many of those called scientists left it because they realized it did not align with what they call modern empirical science. We are not saying that science is a measure, but the Quran tells you precise and constant things that do not change. And for this reason, you see in empirical sciences theories or incorrect things that may change over time. But everything the Quran tells you is reality.
Now, the only one capable of doing this is not just a human, because he cannot obtain all this information from a human, but certainly from the One who created it. He must be its designer and Creator because He knows its reality. When you make something, you know what it is. And the proofs—as I said—are numerous, Glory be to God! Proof upon proof upon numerous proofs. Embryology in the Quran, and how the Quran describes the development of the fetus in its mother's womb, stage by stage (Al-Mu'minun 23:12-14). And there are people like Keith Moore, a professor who lived during the 20th century and has passed away. He said: "This must be from God." And he was a Christian, and he died a Christian. But he said that this is definitely from God, based on his research and studies. This is definitely from God. And he acknowledged that Prophet Muhammad could not have come up with this from his own imagination; rather, it must have come from God. If we compare it to the beliefs of the Greeks, who used to say that humans were very small and then started to grow, or that the first half formed first, then the second half followed. Or that humans were created from menstrual blood... and all these things, which are from the beliefs of Aristotle and Galen... these are from the great Greeks. So if the Prophet was taking from other nations, why did he leave all this information? Because this information was not there. So all of these are proofs.
Furthermore, and we will conclude with this, God willing, because we do not have much time, is Prophet Muhammad's ﷺ description of social behaviors and what we humans should and should not do. Now... how many PhD certificates do we need to add? We need to add a PhD in finance, a PhD in managing people, a PhD... Add PhDs. But he is a prophet from God? No! No! He was the smartest and most knowledgeable person in existence, but was he the prophet of God? No. But he claimed to be the prophet of God! No! No! I do not accept this. And as we said, some people, no matter how many proofs you present them with, will not accept the truth. There are teachings, if you compare them to today's societies—look at the teachings of Islam, and some people say they are simple teachings. Look at financial matters, for example, and the rulings of the Quran regarding interest and usury, and the wisdom behind them. There is a beautiful video I recommend people watch, titled "Wisdom Behind Prohibition of Riba," by a brother named Almir Colan. He goes into detail in a video of about 16 minutes. He talks about how applying usury on a global scale—and it has been applied in the past—leads to the destruction of societies. How these few hadiths from the Prophet ﷺ that talk about transactions and trade, "gold for gold, hand to hand"... Yes! And all these laws in the Quran and hadiths related to transactions and financial matters, look how they preserve the entire society! This is not just arbitrary talk from the Prophet ﷺ, but it completely preserves society and makes it function fully and in the correct way. The laws related to marriage between husband and wife, and related to children, family structures, and making rulings for each one of them. And we see the opposite today, the most prominent example of which is America! A 50/50 partnership, feminism, and all those things. Look at society today, women joining the workforce, and men are no longer the providers... and so on. We see here that societies are in a state of total destruction. 50% is the divorce rate in America, and 80% of divorces are initiated by women. Why didn't Islam give divorce into the hands of women? It gave them Khul' (divorce initiated by the wife), and this is a completely different matter where she has to return the dowry. But the right to divorce was primarily given to the man. There is a type of separation that a woman can do under specific conditions, but it is essentially in the hands of the man, because women go through different stages, cycles, and hormonal changes, and their behavior changes. And all married people here know how many times a wife says: "Divorce me!" And if she were allowed to initiate divorce proceedings, no marriage would remain. But this is the case in the West, according to what they call "equality," isn't it? They introduce different ideologies to solve society's problems. Laws related to theft... How the Quran talks about a very harsh punishment for theft. Notice where the lowest theft rates in the world are. Go to Dubai, leave your phone on the table, and come back after three days, and I guarantee you will find it! You will find it! But look here, people are afraid to leave their laptops in their cars. I was sitting, and they told me: "Take it with you, because they will break the window and take it," in New York, which is supposed to be the capital or the city or whatever term you want to use... one of the major cities. Because Washington is the capital, but it is one of the major cities. You can't even leave a laptop. They say: "We'll put them in prison." And if you go to prison, you find them establishing networks with more gang members, so they get to know each other and start moving their soldiers on the ground. This is what they do. Is this your solution? This is the alternative offered at the expense of the words of God and His Messenger. Do you see these rulings in Islam and Sharia... They don't like this term! So "Sharia" means, in short, laws, or the way to God Almighty. So they don't like these terms, but God's Sharia, we see the wisdom behind it when we see the application of its opposite, because things are distinguished by their opposites. If you don't know what a man is, and I tell you that a man is the opposite of a woman, or light is the opposite of darkness, or whatever, you will understand what that thing is. And therefore, in dictionaries, they define things by their opposites. And if you want to see the wisdom behind the teachings of Islam in all aspects related to financial matters, marriage, purity, and the things you are allowed to eat and forbidden to eat, Islam completely prohibits alcohol for you. (Al-Ma'idah 5:90). Previously, they used to say that a little alcohol is good for your heart, and now they have changed their minds, and new studies say that the beneficial amount of alcohol is 0.000%, meaning that the absence of alcohol is good for you. Any alcohol you drink is harmful to you. And the Daily Mail published this study: any amount of alcohol is harmful to you. And Islam prohibits alcohol for you completely. As for Christianity, it allows you to drink a little, but not to get drunk! As for Islam, it prohibits you from alcohol completely. And when you look at the effects of alcohol on society, do I need to tell you about the effects of alcohol on society? And how it completely destroys society! 60 to 70% of stabbings in Britain are caused by people being under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and so on. They stab people and kill people, then those who drink alcohol drive cars and hit people on the roads. The highest rates of domestic violence occur when England loses a football match, and they beat their wives when they are drunk. They also beat each other in the streets, and you can watch the clips, but when they return, they also beat their wives. I don't know what the wife did, but she didn't watch the match!! So when you look at the effects... Gambling, and how Islam prohibits these things, while liberal society—and put 100 lines under this—advanced, enlightened, wonderful society, does not prohibit them! While backward Islam—whatever the terms are—obsolete, and all those terms they use, commands you to do them. But look at their effects on these societies they call advanced. The home is in complete ruin and chaos. Do you know that gambling, glory be to God, is a great evil, because you gain what others have lost! The only way you can make money is by your brother losing his money, because, as you know, casinos don't lose money, my friend. They use your money in exchange for his money, and this is how the casino makes money. It is the height of evil, such that when you win and are happy, someone else has lost! As a society... And therefore, Islam prohibits these things. So the question is: how could a man—Prophet Muhammad ﷺ—who lived 1400 years ago come up with such a system? Dealing with all aspects of human life, dealing with your wife, transactions in society, laws, and related to theft and everything, financial matters, governing governments, and related to obedience between rulers and the ruled. Everything you can imagine. Therefore, Islam is guidance in everything. And therefore, the companions of the Prophet ﷺ said: "The Messenger of God ﷺ left us, and there is no bird that flaps its wings in the air except that he reminded us of knowledge concerning it." He said: "Your Prophet ﷺ has taught you everything." He said: "Even the latrine..." And I say this because it is of utmost importance, even entering the toilet, he informed us about it. Now, many people say: "What is this? These are obvious matters!" Come to the West. Do they use water for istinja' (cleansing oneself after urination or defecation)? And many people use this example. Imagine I vomited on your hand, and you said: "Bring me a tissue." You wiped it. Did it become clean? No! Unless I cleanse and wash it, it will not become clean. And what we consider obvious, which is this example, they do not know that it is obvious. How many "celebrities" have you heard of going to Dubai and saying: "Oh! The bidet is amazing and wonderful. I discovered this great invention. We must have it in our countries..." This wonderful invention for us, this is obvious, but it is not for them, because they have been deprived of guidance and knowledge, and they have not received it. And therefore, they do not consider it obvious, as many of us claim it is obvious.
Now, my brothers and sisters... and we will conclude here, God willing, with this point. I will ask everyone sitting here a question: Is it possible, under any scenario or circumstance, for you to provide us with an alternative explanation for Prophet Muhammad ﷺ...? And remember all types, because I have presented you with types of evidence, haven't I? Under all these types of evidence, I said there are examples. But due to lack of time, I did not want to delve deeper into them. All these types of evidence, and each type of these situations, could a human like Prophet Muhammad ﷺ know these things other than them being revelation from God? And if that is the case, then we welcome your explanations now. We are happy to see an alternative explanation, and if the answer is—and it is always the answer when I talk to people—the answer is always: "No! It is impossible for him to know this information." But sometimes they insist on not embracing Islam and becoming Muslims. So, everyone who hears this, we encourage you to do your own research, and you will find everything we have said: the way we mentioned it, and the description we gave. So we encourage you to research and explore. And if that is the case, then we welcome this person. If he is not a Muslim, let him become a Muslim. And if he is, he must understand that Islam is not a possibility, or highly probable. Islam, without the slightest doubt, is from God. I do not have a speck of doubt in my heart that this is the truth... not a speck! And bring me the smartest person on Earth, and he will not be able to provide an alternative explanation.
We conclude here, God willing, and we will receive your questions, God willing, before the evening prayer. And I welcome your questions. "And whatever guidance there is, it is from Allah, and whatever error or slip there is, it is from me and from Satan. Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek Your forgiveness and repent to You." Ask your questions, God willing, if any of you has a question. Let's see... Mashallah! Everyone agrees with me. Okay, yes... And peace be upon you and the mercy of God. [My question is related to schools of thought] [If a person says: I do not follow a school of thought, and I only follow the Quran and Sunnah, and that's it.] Okay, a good question. The question is: Some people say: "I follow a school of thought, and I do not follow the Quran and Sunnah, and that's it." I said: "I do not follow a school of thought, I only follow the Quran and Sunnah." Yes, I only suffice myself with following the Quran and Sunnah, and I do not follow a school of thought. We say: First of all, the school of thought that must be followed by necessity for every Muslim is the school of the Messenger of God ﷺ. The word "madhhab" in Arabic means to direct yourself... to go or to direct oneself. Or to direct one's opinion to a certain direction. So this is the meaning of "madhhab." When you say the school of Ahmad, it means the opinion that he went to. And the school of Al-Shafi'i means the opinion that he went to. And when you say the Shafi'is, they are those who took the principles of Imam Al-Shafi'i and applied the same principles to derive rulings. And the same applies to the rest of the schools of thought. How many schools of thought are there? Who can tell us? Four? No... There were many schools of thought that have reached us today and that we follow: four. There was the school of Al-Awza'i, and the school of Al-Hasan Al-Basri... and there were many schools of thought. The school of Sufyan Al-Thawri... These were schools of thought, but the students—those righteous predecessors—did not write them down and document them in the same way. The Zahiri school of thought is very well known... Ibn Hazm, if you have heard of him, he is a follower of the Zahiri school of thought of Abu Dawud Al-Zahiri. And this is another school of thought. So these are schools of thought, but the ones that remained until they reached us, thanks to their students, are four. Because their students collected them, documented them, and spread them everywhere. The four we know are: Al-Shafi'i, Al-Hanbali, Al-Maliki, and Al-Hanafi. These four. The only reason is that their students spread them. Now, do these schools of thought agree with each other on everything? And if the answer is no, then some of them must be right and some must be wrong. We are not talking about the reward now, because they are all rewarded for their ijtihad (independent reasoning). If they followed the correct paths in trying to find evidence, and they erred, Allah rewards them for the attempt. And if they were right, they have two rewards: one for the attempt, and the other because they found the truth, or said the truth, or taught the truth. But if they differed, when it comes to the Quran and Sunnah, there is a correct opinion and another incorrect one. And if that is the case, then what proves the truth is the evidence from the Quran and Sunnah. But what about following a school of thought? You can follow a school of thought! And the reason—especially if you are going to become a student of knowledge—is that it gives you a methodology and makes learning and studying easier for you. It gives you principles, books explaining hadiths, and sets boundaries and a methodology for you, and helps you in learning. And the majority of people, when they become scholars, study all the schools of thought, then they become mujtahids (independent jurists) in the schools of thought. So this is how it works. But you start with a school of thought because it gives you a methodology and helps you learn. Therefore, there is no problem in learning and studying a school of thought, and there is no problem with it. But the problem is when your school of thought adopts an incorrect opinion that is rejected by the majority, and there is clear evidence, yet you say: "I will follow the school of thought." But my brother?... "No. This is my school of thought!" No, my brother, in this case where the difference is not considered, where the evidence is strong for both sides and the matter is very difficult, you find companions here and companions there, and evidence here and evidence there. Then it is okay, you can adopt a different opinion. But when the opinion is not based on strong evidence, but on weak evidence, and the opposing opinion is based on clear teachings from the Prophet ﷺ, you cannot say: "I follow the school of thought." We have no fanaticism, and fanaticism means blind following absolutely of any human—except the Messenger of God ﷺ. That's all! If a person wants to become a student of knowledge and follow a school of thought, then welcome. Then you understand and take into account that when there is sufficient evidence contradicting your school of thought, then you adopt that opinion. But you adhere to the principles of your school of thought. Agreed? Any other questions?... Yes. [May Allah reward you, my brother. I want to comment with a statement before I ask my question.] [You mentioned how the Prophet ﷺ had all those PhDs.] [But the funny thing is that we know that the Prophet ﷺ could not read or write.] [– And this is interesting.] – The Prophet ﷺ, what? [– He could not read or write, and yet he was correct in everything.] – Yes, absolutely, yes. In addition to that, the Prophet ﷺ could not read or write, and his companions wrote down this information, recorded it, and documented it, and it is in our hands today directly from his companions and the people around him. And it is from the wisdom of God Almighty that He shows us how he was able to bring this Quran. Not to mention all the other things we mentioned or the PhDs. How was he able to produce this Quran? "And you were not reciting before it any scripture, nor inscribing it with your right hand. Then, [if you were], the voiders of falsehood would have doubted." (Al-'Ankabut 29:48). While those wicked criminals say: "Perhaps he did this and that, and perhaps he was eloquent." Therefore, God Almighty left no room, no opportunity, or no door open for them except to believe that he is the Messenger of God. [May Allah reward you. My question is: If I know someone like a colleague at work, an employee, a neighbor, or others.] [How do I start inviting them? And should I continue presenting evidence? Because you said one proof is enough, or should I try repeatedly?] This is an excellent question, and the answer is that you should look at the caller. Are you qualified to do da'wah (invitation) or not? This is the first question we should ask, because da'wah can be presented in different ways, starting with your behavior and ethics as a Muslim. You give a gift to your neighbor, or treat him well, help him, and remove harm from the road. People see you when you do these things, so you become a means of da'wah, because we see many people embracing Islam because of the ethics of Muslims. They say: "I saw their ethics, their kindness, and their steadfastness in their beliefs." This in itself is da'wah. And other forms of da'wah are direct da'wah and talking to a person. So if you want to do direct da'wah and talk directly to a person, we must see if you are qualified, meaning you have the principles of religion and its foundations, and whatever you say, you say it with knowledge, and do not say what you do not have knowledge of. This is first. But many people do not have these skills, so how do we invite those around us? It's very simple. Buy a copy of the Quran and give it to him. And there is nothing easier than this. Buy a copy of the Quran and give it to your neighbor, colleague, or friend, and tell him: "If you have questions, you can ask me." If he asks you questions, tell him: "I will get back to you with answers. Ask the scholars, and write down the answers, then get back to him." Everyone can do this, and no one is incapable of it. Tell him: "This is a great question." If you don't know the answer, and the question is not simple, like asking about the number of prayers you pray in a day... If the question is more difficult, go to someone who has knowledge, get the information and answers, then go back and give him the answers. But if you give him the Quran, that is a big step on the way. And your behavior and ethics are also a big step on the way. Of course, we know, and I heard that there are not many da'wah tables here, for example. I heard that there are not many da'wah tables, and we must change this situation. There are people sitting here today, and this lecture, unfortunately, you did not come with your swords; no pens or papers. You must come with your swords. And if you have your swords and you have written down the information, God willing, it will be recorded and available... fortunately, as they say, where you can write down the information later. If you have this information, you can set up a da'wah table, then present it. Sit at the da'wah tables and distribute free copies of the Quran. That is enough to prove the truth to these people without getting into arguments or much back and forth. Just present this information and direct them to the scholars. And if they ask questions whose answers you don't know, go and find the answers. We must establish this here. How many people are sitting here? Dozens of people are sitting here. So why can't we go out and set up a da'wah booth? Why can't we do that? Do you have legs, brothers? Can you walk? I just want to make sure. If you don't, then we can talk about something else. But you have legs, and you walk to work and come back from work. And there are some brothers who do that. So why don't we do more? And why don't we do it in other places? This must be done, and as we said: just speak what you know. And if you see that you are not a person of knowledge, sit at the booth and seek knowledge daily—because it is obligatory on every Muslim—and give copies of the Quran to people, and you will have made an effort. And our brother from The Deen Show at Deen Centre, welcomes you, companions, to contact them, and I am sure they will also help you in seeking knowledge, da'wah, materials, and requirements. They will be more than happy to help you. But we must establish this more. If I come next time, God willing, if God gives me life and I can come, if I come here, I will ask: "How many da'wah tables have you set up?" And everyone will raise their hands... You raise your hands, and I will say: "Oh! Mashallah!" God willing, we must do this, and intend it, and know that in this there is good for you and your hereafter, before it is for others. Okay, any other questions? Yes, could you give him the microphone, please? May Allah reward you. [– Peace be upon you.] – And peace be upon you and the mercy of God and His blessings. [You answered part of my question, but how can a young man become like you? Your way of explaining...] [So what are the educational courses or programs you went through that helped you?] Okay, I will tell you, God willing, about a person better than me and all of us, and that is the Prophet ﷺ. Our question should be: How can we be like Prophet Muhammad ﷺ? Not like me or others who live today or who lived in the past, other than Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. What did I do? I applied, learned, and studied how Prophet Muhammad ﷺ dealt with people. To the best of my ability, and my da'wah is very lacking compared to the Prophet ﷺ, and my ethics are very lacking compared to him ﷺ. But any good you see is from the Prophet ﷺ. Study the Shama'il Muhammadiyah (The Noble Qualities of Prophet Muhammad), the behavior of the Prophet ﷺ, his description, his ethics, how he acted, and his dealings with people, and how he carried out da'wah. Then you study the principles of religion, as we said, which will prepare you, establish your creed. Therefore, the conference in New Jersey was about creed: belief in Allah, His books, and His messengers... these pillars of faith and their details, because this is what people will ask you. Everyone who asks you a question, their question will not go beyond these things. Either they will ask you about Allah: His names, attributes, existence, and how to worship Him. Or they will ask you about the prophets of Allah, and they will ask you about the books, and they will ask you about the Day of Judgment. The questions will not go beyond these creeds, and they will not be more or less than this. So this is what people will ask you. Therefore, when you study it according to a correct methodology and understand it, you will be able to answer most—if not all—of the questions you encounter, God willing. So, behavior and ethics from the Prophet ﷺ, then acting upon the knowledge you seek. God willing, now is the time for the Adhan (call to prayer), and we will conclude here, God willing. It was my pleasure to be here, and thank you all for inviting me, especially Brother Eddie from The Deen Show, and may Allah reward all those present. Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek Your forgiveness and repent to You.