[Grizli]

I would like to ask a question of muslims here.

On what grounds do you base your beliefs?
What evidence do you have that the Quran is from God, that Mohammed received the Quran from the angel Gabriel?
How confident can you be that the followers of Mohammed are reliable and that scholars today are really capable of interpreting current day situations?
How is is different from Christianity, that is,making things up as you go along by man?

A lot of questions here, I know.

Thanks

[stastony]

I mentioned this before:

Bismillah

As for the Qur'an being the Word of God, please consider following solid evidences - just the headlines:

1. The Qur’an is completely different from all the other books in the world.
2. The Qur’an, which he brought, has challenged all mankind with all their literary geniuses and scientists, from the first day of its revelation to the Last Day, to produce a like of it or even a single chapter of it
3. The Qur’an was revealed in 23 years, yet there are not any contradictory points in it.
4. The Qur’an is beyond compare from the viewpoint of its styles and eloquence
5. Prophet Muhammad was unlettered and no one had heard him say even a couple of poetry. However, the Qur’an also challenged the known experts in poetry and oratory and forced them to surrender
6. Arabic became so rich through the Qur’an and attained such a high level that it developed as the language of the most magnificent civilization of world history with all its scientific, religious, metaphysical, literary, economic, juridical, social and political aspects
7. Despite its apparent simplicity, the Qur’an has such depths of meaning that everyone from the commonest of people to the most high-ranking scholar, scientist and literary man, finds his share in it
8. No one has ever been heard to be bored with the recitation of the Qur’an
9. The Qur’an describes man with all his physical and spiritual aspects and contains principles to solve all the problems that may appear at any time and in any place concerning all the social, economic, juridical, political and administrative fields of life. Furthermore, it satisfies both the mind and spirit at the same time and guarantees happiness in both worlds.
10. The Qur’an unveils the mystery of man, creation and the universe.
11. The Qur’an is the embodiment of Muhammad in words or Muhammad is the embodiment of the Qur’an in belief and conduct
12. Even though revealed in parts on certain occasions, the Qur’an is equally universal and objective where it deals with particular issues as it is exact and precise where it deals with universal matters
13. The Qur’an contains at least the principles of all the branches of knowledge either in summary or detail and not even a single piece of the knowledge it contains has ever been contradicted.
14. “As time passes, the Qur’an grows ever younger.”
15. The Qur’an addresses and legislates for all in all times
16. If Prophet Muhammad had written the Qur’an by himself, he should never have mentioned some incidents concerning him.
17. There are answers to many such questions in the Qur’an that one who does not have an all-encompassing knowledge could not have answered them.
18. To claim that Muhammad—God forbid such a thought!— invented the Qur’an means that Muhammad, who was known as Muhammad the Trustworthy, was—we beg forgiveness for having to narrate such a false claim—the greatest liar and cheat history has ever known.
19. Although other Prophets like Moses and Jesus are mentioned many times in the Qur’an despite the Jews’ and Christians’ denial of Muhammad, we come across the name Muhammad only four times
20. It is another argument for the Divine authorship of the Qur’an that it refers to certain facts of creation recently established by modern scientific methods

Now, for a moment consider all these points combined in a single book called Qur'an... then you should come to know the truth. These solid evidences certainly show that the Qur’an is the Word of God and an undeniable proof for Muhammad’s Prophethood.

For us Muslims, we don't need any evidence as the Qur'an proves itself. Whenever we recite the Qur'an, even those who don't know Arabic language, we feel complete peace and tranquility in our hearts and minds; and there isn't any similar experience in the entire world. It is the only book in the world entirely memorized dot-by-dot, letter-by-letter by thousands of students every year within just 1-2 years.. Compare frequency of reading 'the most favorite book' of yours, to the number of times Qur'an being read by Muslims; many if not all devout Muslims complete entire Qur'an every month, some are reading it even twice or trice a month.

I don't remember reading any other book [fiction or non-fiction] twice, before or after becoming Muslim. But I certainly crave for the Qur'an everyday... It's absolutely a unique and a matchless experience full of joy and ecstasy. This is enough evidence for me that this book is the true Word of God. Speaking from my own experience, and from observing many people in this regard, it is a special book that removes sorrow, anxiety, despair and depression just by reciting it [even without understanding the meaning of it]. It is definitely not a man-made thing; this book is produced by the same author who created our hearts and minds.

May Allah guide you to the truth, my dear friend, just like He did us! Amin.

[irrehoobe]

I have also posted on a thread regarding this recently. There are many proofs that the Quran comes from Allah . For example, the Quran mentions historical facts that it would be impossible for anyone at the time of the Messenger to have known. The Quran contains scientific facts that it would have been impossible for anyone at the time of the Messenger :saw; to have known. Etc

Also, the linguistic miracle proves the Quran to be God's Word. These articles present the logical argument regarding it; if you have any questions, please ask.

http://www.theinimitablequran.com/uniquelitform.pdf

http://hamzatzortzis.blogspot.com/20...niqueness.html

[Fhgzmftq]

This is why:

"Islam is the only religion able to demonstrate all of the following characteristics:

1) Revelations with characteristics that demonstrate they are of Divine Origin. These include:

A) Unmet Qur'anic challenge to disbelievers
B) Accurate Prophecies
C) Revealed historical information only later verified to be true
D) Scientific information only later verified to be true

2) Been preserved and perfectly transmitted since it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)"

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=109235951

[SpyRemo]

How is is different from Christianity, that is,making things up as you go along by man?

Hello, I will wait for others with more knowledge to give you a better answer to your questions. However, I can tell you this: Islam is not a "make things up as you go along" type of thing. Ask any Muslim scholar a question about anything to do with current day situations (or anything to do with life), and most probably they will give you a quick run-down based on their understanding but would tell you something like "I need to do further research before I can tell you more". They would then go dig into Quran, Hadith, and books which explain both, coupled with what they have already learned from the same, and then come back to you with a more definite answer to your questions which they feel confident telling you. Even the most renowned of Muslim scholars refrain from just blurting out answers & comments from their mouth because they are afraid they might tell someone the wrong thing, so they always like to do their 'research' before confidently answering many questions.

That is how Islam works and, by the grace of Allah, there is an answer for any and every 'current day situation' one can think of within the Quran and/or Hadith. It is not people giving you their own opinions or making things up on their own as they go along (sure, there may be people like that, but they are usually out of the fold of "Islam"). It is actually a science of Quran & Hadith from which Muslims get answers for any and every situation in their life.

Allah knows best.

[kucheravka]

How is is different from Christianity, that is,making things up as you go along by man?

Differently from Christianity, Islam doesn't make up things as "times" go along, and that's very clear even to non-Muslims, generally..

[Grizli]

Thank you for your replies here.

Obviously things arise in the time since the Prophet and scholars use their education of Islam of interpret the Quran, to look at the sunnah & hadiths to come to conclusions about present day issues. That does not make them right as people are fallible regardless of levels of education. That is where Christianity has gone wrong and more corrupt over time.

[actioliGalm]

Hi,

I'll just add a little more.

Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhamad in a span of 23 years time. If we ourselves write a journal a paragraph a week, it will be impossible for all the collected journals to be coherent. Furthermore, what we write down would be highly influenced by our emotions. Not just that, our writing style, linguistic style and everything would change over time. The Quran has none of that and totally devoid of Prophet Muhamad's emotions.

Quran has so many hidden secrets that only revealed one by one to the human kind. One of the latest findings was about the clay technology used by pharaoh to build pyramid, which was published as a book in 2002 after extensive research on the stone structure.

Quran 28:38 - Yusuf Ali translation;
Pharaoh said: "O Chiefs! no god do I know for you but myself: therefore, O Haman! light me a (kiln to bake bricks) out of clay, and build me a lofty palace, that I may mount up to the god of Moses: but as far as I am concerned, I think (Moses) is a liar!"

Nobody knew that information which was hidden for 4700 years from the humankind.

Another one is Iram City of a Thousand Pillars; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iram_of_the_Pillars
As far as I know, there was only a mention of the city in Ebla tablets found in Syria in 1975 which confirms its existence until it was found using satellite technology n the 1990s. http://www.worldmysteries.tv/videos/637/ebla-tablets

Those are just two examples of it. There are of course many other hidden information from other fields as well.

[ViktorialHDY]

...
For us Muslims, we don't need any evidence as the Qur'an proves itself. Whenever we recite the Qur'an, even those who don't know Arabic language, we feel complete peace and tranquility in our hearts and minds; and there isn't any similar experience in the entire world. It is the only book in the world entirely memorized dot-by-dot, letter-by-letter by thousands of students every year within just 1-2 years.. Compare frequency of reading 'the most favorite book' of yours, to the number of times Qur'an being read by Muslims; many if not all devout Muslims complete entire Qur'an every month, some are reading it even twice or trice a month.

I don't remember reading any other book [fiction or non-fiction] twice, before or after becoming Muslim. But I certainly crave for the Qur'an everyday... It's absolutely a unique and a matchless experience full of joy and ecstasy. ...

This point seriously is worth pondering upon. You'll get 6 year olds who have memorised every one of the 6,000+ verses and capable of reading it all in it's entirety. Any other book on Earth like that???

There are hundreds (rather thousands) of people who read the entire Quran (normal prints these days have 800 + pages), daily in Ramadhan!! And what's amazing that people who dont even understand the language will do this!!! Any other book on Earth like that???

think bout that....

[PolPitasc]

Bismillah Al-Rehman Al-Raheem

Dear Sister:

May Allah guide us all on the Straight Path.

Sister, thank you, first of all, for your questions. Sister, I would like to first compliment you on the nature of your questions, which shows a thinking mind behind your inquisitiveness as well as your concern over the matter.

Sister, I would like to answer your questions one-by-one Insha-Allah to the best of my poor ability (may Allah make my explanations clear).

On what grounds do you base your beliefs?

Sister, I can give a facetious answer and say simply “the truth,” and I would not be lying. But I know that will not be sufficient for anyone who genuinely seeks an understanding. So, instead, Sister, I will do better and share you with my experience which I had shared first in a partial account on the Forum and then a detailed account in another thread. Both accounts are complementary to one another, and they as a whole provide a richer and clearer picture of how any heart might but particularly mine came to accept and love Islam.

What evidence do you have that the Quran is from God, that Mohammed received the Quran from the angel Gabriel?

Sister, I have never spent time under a verdant tree trying to count its leaves. I could perhaps start the count, but I would not know where to end or even when the ending would occur. So, perhaps, Sister, instead of overwhelming you with the proofs of which there are many (and to some which others have provided in the thread already, may Allah reward them), I would like to simply share with you two videos that formed a part of lecture on the miraculous nature of the Quran delivered by the speaker Brother Nouman Ali Khan. Sister, the videos are so excellent a introduction on this topic that the time flies in the course of absorbing the (albeit long) presentation: Divine Speech Prologue 1 and Divine Speech Prologue 2.

How confident can you be that the followers of Mohammed are reliable and that scholars today are really capable of interpreting current day situations?

Sister, with your previous Christian background, I can understand your skepticism with regards to this matter. And you have a right to your skepticism as your point about man’s fallibility is a valid one. Therefore, Sister, we have respect for our scholars, but we only place our confidence in those scholars who provide a ruling based on the primary source which is Quran and the secondary sources which constitute all hadiths. In our fast-paced world where modernity and immodesty and peer custom has replaced submission to the will of the One God, we do find some scholars who have sometimes (under influence of the aforesaid) given erroneous rulings with regards to alcohol-laced food or interest-based loans or some other haram/halal matter on which previous generations of scholars were extremely clear.

However, due to how much value we carry in our hearts and minds for scholars’ either having journeyed to foreign places or schools, having made sacrifices for the sake of learning the deen, balancing their duties to us with their own lives, and/or diligence in applying their knowledge, we do not rob them of their status as a legitimate scholar but simply approach their rulings cautiously. As I know and you know, Sister, no human being is perfect, and thus we understand that sometimes despite these scholars’ best intentions, they might inadvertently make rulings inconsistent with the Shariah. Therefore, we leave whatever is doubtful from them (in terms of their knowledge) and accept the good, trying our best to be mindful that haram cannot be made halal and halal cannot be made haram and should be considered always in light of rulings the bright minds of the Ummah the three generations following Prophet Muhammad (SAW) gave. Therefore, we also understand the need for madhabs (methodologies) and following a verdict that is consistent with the understanding of the discipline that the best and sharpest Islamic scholars (of that time) had (may Allah bless and reward them).

How is is different from Christianity, that is,making things up as you go along by man?

Sister, Christianity and Islam in this matter are as different as chalk and cheese. I know you know this, Sister, but the primary source Injeel, given to Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) by Allah was a Revelation to be taught to the disciples in his time and to be repeated to the Israelites. This Injeel was then learned and interpreted by the disciples and taught as gospels. Over time, however, the gospels, which itself was only an understanding of the Injeel and not the Injeel itself, were reinterpreted by Christian scholars who then transcribed them with subtractions (taking out what they did not like) and additions (uniting their own writings with the gospels). So, as you can see, from the beginning, we have Injeel as a Revelation not preserved, disciples teaching their own understanding as gospel, and then that gospel being corrupted by Christian scholars who believed that they were inspired by Allah to add or erase words in the gospels, and then the decision sometime to collect the gospels in what is today known as the Bible. However, even that compiled Bible today is not the Bible because different sects in Christianity continue to print their own versions of the Bible (reinterpreted by church leaders) which specifically caters to the needs and religious understanding of their particular congregation. How many changes do you think (if you were to imagine counting) would that make?

So, of course, modern Christian scholars are then making rulings on what is, as you can see, a corrupted document. What do you think the chances of these modern Christian scholars giving an erroneous ruling are? Heightened, I would say, because a corrupted document does not provide a good basis for an uncorrupted ruling.

However, if any non-Muslim scholar is honestly and forthrightly to examine and study the history of preservation of the Quran, the scholar will find even the preservation of the Quran a very, very, very marvelous act, though Muslims of course believe this was not a marvelous act but one that fulfills the promise of Allah to protect the Revelation from corruption (Quran 15:10). Then, of course, we have hadiths that were as a body of sayings scrutinized so minutely even in the time of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) with people of that time just as assiduously memorizing the exact words of the Prophet and then carefully related to others for memorization and corroborated. And then those hadiths (sometimes in the time of the Prophet (SAW) and other times not) were written down and later a body of system, methodology, and classification developed to assure that corrupted or fabricated hadiths did not find their way into being accepted in the scholarly Islamic tradition.

So, of course, modern Islamic scholars derive rulings using the primary source Quran and the secondary source of hadiths and under the discipline and methodology developed by early Islamic scholars. Modern scholars’ rulings are not protected against mistakes of these scholars’ own understanding, but the modus operandi and rigor they employ can, as you can see, stand to better scrutiny than Christian scholarly tradition.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sister, please understand: In life, we always submit to something, whether it is as simple as submitting to the traffic signal that shows “red” or submitting to the waiting line at the cashier to make a grocery purchase or as complex as submitting to our parents’ demand to listen to their advice or submitting to the boss’s demand for attention and excellence. However, perhaps, if we directed that submission to our Creator, would we not derive better profit and peace than we do when we submit to the man-made rules (implicit or otherwise) of our existence?

I hope my answers were helpful, and I thank you for your questions. And as a last thought and sincere and well-meaning advice, I ask you to please pray to Allah for guidance, even if you to have pray the words of a doubter. Even saying something like, “O Allah! If you are there, guide me,” is sufficient if meant sincerely and asked with persistence.

If I have said anything that is good and true, it is from Allah, and anything other than that is my own mistake.

[Escamsrasiush]

Okay, here is a post that I wrote as a reply to your question why I believe in God and His Messenger. A lot of what is in this the post is something that I have already written before. I intended to rewrite and sharpen the language, sequencing, delivery and rhetoric a little but unfortunately due to time constraints I wasn't able to. I hope it makes you reflect because that is overall theme of my post. I also apologise if the text doesn't really flow at all times and is not that coherent. Like I said, it's because I compiled from posts that I wrote as replies to other people. I also apologise for the written mistakes that might ruin the flow of the text. Like I said, I intended to brush up on the language but I am a bit busy. So here it goes:

Why believe in God and His Messenger? Historically speaking, people had different reasons for believing in Muhammad’s Prophethood (peace and blessings of God be upon him). His beloved wife, Khadija, who was 15 years her senior, believed in him due to his character. She knew him to be an honest, trustworthy, humble and generous man of character. After the first time Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) received Revelation while he was in the cave of Hira – where was told by the Angel Gabriel to read when he was illiterate – he came home very scared and asked his wife to cover in her arms. Imagine if you received revelation, you probably wouldn’t think to yourself, “This is great! I am a Prophet of God!”, you probably would think you were going possessed and going crazy! Well, that’s what happened with the Prophet and he told his wife that he feared that something bad was going to happen to him, so his wife comforted her telling him that nothing bad would happen and God wouldn’t disgrace him because he was a man of character speaking the truth, he was generous to the poor, he kept good relations wit his family and people. In short, she married him due to his character and believed in his Prophethood due to his character.

(Note, the Meccans believed in God, in fact, the whole Arabian Peninsula did, however, they believed him to have daughters and they believed in other gods as well. However, they believed Allah/God to be the Creator and the Supreme God and they worshipped the other gods so they could acts intercessors between them and God. That’s why they are Mushrikeen in the Qur’an because they associate partners with God. I say this so you can have some context)

Another such person who believed in Muhammad due to his character was Abu Bakr. They were friends before Muhammad’s Prophethood. When Muhammad invited him to Islam, he recited to him some verses from the Qur’an and he became Muslim. When Muhammad had his Night Journey where he was taken from Mecca into Jerusalem at night and was home the following morning, the disbelievers of Mecca found this very startling – due to the impossibility of travelling to Jerusalem and back in less than a day - so they asked, “Your companion is claiming that he travelled to Jerusalem and back in one night, what do you make of this?”. He responded, “If Muhammad is telling that then it is as he said it is. Verily, I believed him regarding an even stranger thing when he claimed to receive Revelations from Heaven”. After that incident, he was called as-Siddiq which means a man of deep conviction. Of course, he was known as as-Siddiq due to his utmost loyalty to Muhammad and spending most of his fortune in the way of Islam.

Another story that might be mentioned is that of Umar ibn al-Khattab who was a passionate and fiery man of deep conviction. He took it as a serious offense when Muhammad declared that the idols and gods of Quraish (the tribe that inhabited Mecca) were falsehood. He felt it went against everything that he believed in him, his forefathers believed in, his whole tribe – everything that he stood for! He was actually so enraged that one day he set out to kill Muhammad, he simply couldn’t stand what Muhammad was preaching. On his way to kill the Prophet, he met a man who was a Muslim (who hid his faith, most people in Mecca hid their acceptance of Islam at that time) but Umar didn’t know this. The man asked where was he going. Umar replied that he was going to kill the Prophet. The man told him to go deal with your family first, your sister and her husband have accepted Islam (they also hid their faith). The man said this because he wanted to divert Umar from harming the Prophet. So Umar enraged by this went to his sister’s and he heard the Qur’an – the very words that had caused an upset in the Pagan society of Mecca – recited there. When Umar’s sister and husband heard Umar approach, they hid the text from which the Qur’an was recited and the person who was reciting it (it wasn’t Umar’s sister and her husband). Umar obviously asked what was going on. His sister and her husband denied hearing anything. Naturally this enraged Umar further and he started beating his sister and his brother-in-law. At last, both of them said without hesitation that they were Muslims and they didn’t care what he was going to do to them. Such boldness had an effect on Umar, and he asked to see the page from which the Qur’an was recited. He read the Surah of Ta-Ha, the twentieth chapter of the Qur’an.

Ta-Ha.
We have not sent down the Qur'an to thee to be (an occasion) for thy distress,
But only as an admonition to those who fear (Allah),-
A revelation from Him Who created the earth and the heavens on high.
Allah) Most Gracious is firmly established on the throne (of authority).
To Him belongs what is in the heavens and on earth, and all between them, and all beneath the soil.

The eloquence of the words had a moving effect on him and he accepted Islam.

Now, most Muslims don’t have such conversion stories. These are isolated, unique cases so you are probably wondering why I brought them up. It is just to show you that people have different reasons for believing in God and His Messenger. Now I will mention some more common reasons for people converting into Islam.

A lot of people became Muslims when the following prophecy found in the Qur’an was fulfilled:

The Romans are vanquished

In a near land, and they, after being vanquished, shall overcome,

Within a few years. Allah's is the command before and after; and on that day the believers shall rejoice, (Qur'an 30:2-4)

The Qur'an prophecises that the Romans (Byzantines, Byzantium) would be victorious even though they had suffered a heavy loss at the hands of the Persians. This prophecy came at a time when Byzantium had suffered a major and humiliating loss at the hands of Persians. They had just lost Jerusalem which contains the Holy Church, the symbol of their Christian identity. They also had lost major economic centers, namely Egypt and Greater Syria. Abu Bakr(ra) the closest friend of the Prophet(pbuh) informed the Pagan Meccans of this prophecy. The Qur'an says that the victory would happen in "few years" which in Arabic terminology meant between three and nine. Abu Bakr and the Pagans decided to make a bet (this was before betting was made unlawful in Islam), and they agreed on six years. Abu Bakr(ra) lost the bet since Byzantium still wasn't winning, but by the seventh year Byzantium started making huge victories, and the Muslims scolded Abu Bakr(ra) for agreeing on six years although the verse in the Qur'an says "few years" which in Arabic terminology meant "between three and nine".

Another reason why people became Muslims is because Muhammad conquered the Mecca, the very town where he was persecuted and from where he was driven out. The Arab tribes before the conquest of Mecca said, “Leave him to deal with his people. If he is victorious over them, he is a Prophet”. After the conquest of Mecca, the various Arab tribes no longer delayed their acceptance of Islam and entered Islam in crowds.

Another thing that is universal in all conversion stories, past, present and future, is the fact that they like the idea of no god but God without partners and they like the Qur’an. Most people who were converted to Islam by the Prophet had verses recited to them and they accepted.

These are some historical examples, now I give personal reasons for believing in God and His Messenger. Of course the above mentioned examples also are part of the reasons why I believe in God and His Messenger but I won’t re-mention them, I just want you to keep them in mind.

One thing that should definitely be noted is that the Qur’an is a very engaging book, it addresses mankind and encourages them to think and power, and look at God’s signs in the universe. I will quote two verses that speak to me personally.

How can ye reject the faith in Allah?- seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye return. (2:28)
Were they created of nothing, or were they themselves the creators? (52:35)

I have thought about existence, and it is a paradox, almost an impossibility, yet here I am! The idea of anything actually exist is actually quite overwhelming, therefore, in my mind something must be eternal because out of nothing comes nothing. I find it more likely that that something is God. Call it intuition or whatever you want.

Another form of rhetoric that comes to mind is the following:

Allah is He Who raised the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; is firmly established on the throne (of authority); He has subjected the sun and the moon (to his Law)! Each one runs (its course) for a term appointed. He doth regulate all affairs, explaining the signs in detail, that ye may believe with certainty in the meeting with your Lord. (13:02)

Now obviously, if anybody were to look out, they would see that the sky is held up without any pillar. Although it is such an obvious fact, a lot of people go heedless of such things. Normally to a human mind a thing needs something to keep it up, however, the Qur'an shows points out to this simple, observable phenomenon to highlight the fact that things are not always as you would think they'd be. Some people in history believed that God or gods held up the Heavens with pillars, although probably invisible ones. The Bible is an example of such beliefs, for example, in Job 26:11 the pillars of the heavens are mentioned.

One of the main themes in the Qur'an is the Resurrection of the dead. So as not to be in doubt about the Resurrection the Qur'an addresses saying:

It is Allah Who causeth the seed-grain and the date-stone to split and sprout. He causeth the living to issue from the dead, and He is the one to cause the dead to issue from the living. That is Allah: then how are ye deluded away from the truth? (6:95)

It is He Who brings out the living from the dead, and brings out the dead from the living, and Who gives life to the earth after it is dead: and thus shall ye be brought out (from the dead). (3:19)

I think other prophecies are in order now. Here is one made in the Qur’an:

"Allah has promised those among you who believe and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to [the present rulers] in the land, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practice their religion which He has chosen for them [i.e. Islam]. And He will surely give them in exchange a safe security after their fear [provided] they [believers] worship Me and do not associate anything [in worship] with Me." [Qur'an, 24:55]

The Prophet (peace and blessings of God) prophecised of many conquests. He told the Muslims that they would conquer the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and Byzantium. He said that the Last Hour would not come before the Muslims had conquered Jerusalem.

The Prophet(pbuh) also told that the Muslims (Arabs) will conquer Egypt and enjoined them to treat them well since they share common ancestry through Hagar(ra). Hagar was an Egyptian slave who bore Abraham Ishmael who is the ancestor of the Arabs.

He also once had a nap at Umm Haram's house. He woke up and told her that he had seen in his dream his followers sailing in the sea like kings. Umm Haram(ra) asked the Prophet(pbuh) to pray that she would be with them. He responded that she would. He again went back to sleep and woke up and told her about the same dream. She again asked him to pray that she would be a part of those people, he responded that she would be. Well, she ended up being a part of those people. This was the first time the Muslims took on to the sea. This was the idea of Mu'awiyah(ra), the fifth Caliph, though at the time he was just governor of Syria. Umm Haram joined his husband on a expedition against Cyprus. She died in Cyprus because she fell off the back of a mule and broke her neck.


God repeatedly points out the creation itself as a sign. It points out the origin of man.

For example, in the Qur’an, God says that man is created “from a quintessence/extract of the nature of a fluid despised (which is semen)”: (32:8). Furthermore, God says in the Qur’an that man is created out of a mingled drop (76:2). The reason why God says mingled drop is because in order for a human to be created the spermatozoid and the ovum need to mingle into a zygote, the mingled drop.

To continue on the matter of reproduction, I’d like to quote another verse from the Qur’an and give you a story which happened in the day of the Prophet (pbuh).

In whatever form He willed, He put you together (82:8)

Now, the story:

Once a man came complaining to the Prophet: “"My wife has given birth to a black child and I have disowned him!" The Messenger of Allah asked him: "Do you own camels?" The man said yes. "What color are they?" "Red." "Any gray ones among them?" "Indeed, there are gray ones among them!" "And how do you think this [color] came to them?" "Messenger of Allah, some strain must have drawn it out! (`irqun naza`ahu)." "Maybe the same happened here, some strain must have drawn him out." He did not allow him to disown him.

Even if today, in the age of science and technology, your wife gave birth to a black baby, what would your initial reaction be? Let me ask, were you to be back in 7th century Arabia where tribal lineage, family blood and offspring were considered of utmost importance, would you have solved this problem as the Prophet(pbuh) solved it?

Now, I want to focus our attention on astronomy. God mentions in the Qur’an that the Sun and the Moon “swim each in an orbit” (21:33). Many companions of the Prophet expanded on this verse by explaining that the Sun and the Moon “revolve like a spinning wheel, in a circle.” And as you know, the Sun and the Moon indeed do revolve in that manner, as in not only do they revolve in a circle but they also revolve around themselves like a spinning wheel.

Now, let us have a look at another subject. In the Qur’an, God swears “By the Firmament which returns (in its round),”. A companion of the Prophet(pbuh) commented on this verse by saying that the thing which the firmament (sky) returns is the sustenance (water) without which the creatures on Earth would perish. Another point of interest to mention along side this information are these verses from the Qur’an: “See ye the water which ye drink? Do ye bring it down (in rain) from the cloud or do We? Were it Our Will, We could make it salt (and unpalatable): then why do ye not give thanks? (56:68-70)

I want to bring another verse to the table.

And it is He Who sends the winds as heralds of glad tidings, going before His mercy (rain). Till when they have carried a heavy-laden cloud (7:57)

As we know today through scientific means, the winds do carry the clouds, i.e keep them in the air, although they are very heavy-laden with rain water. I wonder if there is another ancient source that describes the winds as carrying the clouds because they are heavy. If anybody has any information on this, please let me know. But even if there is, it is a remarkable use of language.

Another example is how the clouds are formed:

Hast thou not seen how Allah wafteth the clouds, then gathereth them, then maketh them layers, and thou seest the rain come forth from between them; He sendeth down from the heaven mountains wherein is hail, and smiteth therewith whom He will, and averteth it from whom He will. The flashing of His lightning all but snatcheth away the sight.
(24:43)

As modern states, clouds actually grow in height.

I just wanted to add one more thing.

Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were joined together as one united piece, then We parted them And We have made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe (21:30)

Well, as we already know all living things are made of water. The Qur’an also asks a question – “Will you not then believe?”.

Three of the Companions of the Prophet said that the heavens and the earth are separated from one another by this air, i.e the air is a partition between the heavens and the earth. Now, what separates the earth from outer space?¨

This post is by no means an exhaustive list. There are other reasons but I haven't written about them myself so I didn't include them.