Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

More documents

Recommendations

Info

'AbdAllah b. 'Abbas, Interpreter of the Qur'an, and Anas b. Malik, Abu Dharr, and it is reported on the authority of Abu Hurayra, and Ibn Mas'ud...and Ka'b al-Abbar. As for those who are of the opinion that the Prophet did not see his Lord Most High, a group of Sahaba and the Tabi'in also: our Mother 'A'isha and Ibn Mas'ud. And it was disputed regarding him and Abu Hurayra and Abu Dharr." (Dr. Wesley Dissertation) Let me be clear, Dr. Wesley presents Hadeeth from both sides and gives his reasons for siding with those reports that seem to affirm the prophet saying that he saw Allah and for rejecting those reports that seem to affirm that the prophet saw Jibril. My purpose here is not to explore this issue, at least not at this point, but rather to assert that Dr. Wesley documents a dispute between the Sahaba and Tabieen about whether the prophet saw Allah or not. The implication is that if he saw Allah, Allah had to be in a form and if Allah has a form that form was a man. For our edification, let me share with you a couple of the Hadeeth from Dr. Wesley's dissertation that illustrate the two opinions. I do not know which hadith Dr. Wesley feels is the strongest, so if I choose one that is not his preference, it is not intentional. I found it interesting reading them and thought MALI members would also find them interesting. We are all familiar with the companion Ibn Abbas. Here are Hadeeth that reportedly involve him: "Ibn Abbas met Ka'b (al-Ahbar) at Arafat and asked him concerning a certain thing. Then he said, 'God is great,' until the mountains returned the echo. Then Ibn Abbas said, "We belong to the Banu Hashim. We say, "Verily, Muhammad saw his Lord twice." Ka'b replied, "Verily God Most High divided His vision and His conversation between Muhammad and Musa. He spoke to Musa twice; and Muhammad saw Him twice." (Al-Tirmidhi) "(Regarding the aya) "The heart lied not concerning that which he saw (53:11)" (Ibn Abbas) said, "(Muhammad) saw his Lord, May He be Exalted and Great, with his heart twice." He indeed saw Him at another descent by the Lote-tree of the Boundary (53:14)" he said: "He saw his Lord." (Regarding the aya) "Till He was the measure of two bows or closer. Then He revealed to His servant what He revealed (53:9-10)." Ibn Abbas said: "Indeed the Prophet saw Him." While this second hadith says that he saw Him with his heart, Dr. Wesley goes into great detail in his dissertation in an attempt to show that this does not mean he didn't see with his eyes as well. In other words, his heart did not lie concerning what his physical eyes saw. One more, for good measure: [Ibn Abbas said], "The Messenger of God said: "I saw my Lord under the form of a young man (shabb), one beardless (amrad) with curly hair (ja'd) and clothed in a green [or red] garment." On the opposing side, I'll share with you a Hadith reportedly involving Prophet Muhammad's wife Ayesha. "(Masruq said):"I was sitting back in Aisha's house when she said: "O abu Aisha, there are three 54
things, whoever says any of which, he is lying about Allah in the most hateful manner." I asked: "Which things?" She said: "[First], whoever tells you that Muhammad saw his Lord, he is lying about Allah in the most hateful manner." I was sitting back so I sat up and said: "O Mother of the Faithful! Give me a moment and do not rush me. Did not Allah Almighty say, 'Surely he beheld him on the clear horizon (81:23)?" She replied: "I was the first in the entire community to have asked Allah's Messenger about this, and he said: "It is but Jibril, I did not see him in the actual form in which he was created other than these two times. I saw him alighting from heaven, covering it all. The magnitude of his frame spans what lies between the heaven and the earth." Then she said: "Did you not hear Allah say: "Vision comprehends Him not, but He comprehends all vision. He is the Subtle, the Aware(6:103)?" Did you not hear Allah say: "And it is not (vouchsafed) to any mortal that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veilt, or that He sends a messenger to reveal what He will, by His leave. Lo! He is Exalted, Wise (42:51)?" She continued: [Second], whoever claims that Allah's messenger concealed any part of Allah's book, he is lying about Allah in the most hateful manner when Allah is saying:"O Messenger, make known that which has been revealed unto you from your Lord, for if you do it not, you will not have conveyed His Message (5:67)." She continued: [Third], whoever claims that he can tell what shall happen tomorrow, he is lying about Allah in the most hateful manner, since Allah is saying: "Say: None in the heavens and the earth knoweth the Unseen save Allah" [and they know not when they will be raised again] (27:65) It is reported that Ibn Mas'ud, the 6th convert to Islam, reported: "He indeed saw him at another descent, by the Lote-tree of the boundary (53:13-14):" The prophet said: "I saw Jibril by the lote-tree of the boundary with six hundred wings on him shaking off a plume of ornamental flourishes, pearls, and corundum." I hope you found these Hadeeth interesting and Dr. Wesley points us to more Hadeeth along these lines with some of the companions seeming to contradict themselves. My point here is that these disputes are not taking place hundreds of years later between the prophet's black Arab companions and foreign white converts flocking to the religion. This debate is between what he calls the black sheep. For me, this indicates that the debate over whether prophet Muhammad literally saw G-d or not is not a debate between the views of original black, Semitic Arabs and "Johnny comelately" white, non-Semitic, non-Arabs. Perhaps, it indicates that there was a struggle to keep the concept of G-d free from the idolatrous tendencies of a people just coming out of paganism that continued after the prophet's passing. Look at us today, 1400+ years after the prophet, still struggling to keep our culture and customs from being propagated as the Deen. Intelligent people still worship all kinds of idols or forms of creation. It wouldn't surprise me if this tendency existed in the Muslims of old. Dr. Wesley blames the non-anthropomorphic concept of G-d on Al-Ghazzali and other non-Arabs being influenced by Greek Hellenism (Greek way of life, including religion and philosophy), and by their sheer numbers (coming to the religion in crowds) foisting this concept upon the black Arabs and drowning out the original anthropomorphic Semitic concept of G-d held by the prophet. There is no doubt that Imam Al-Ghazzali was a believing Muslim as well as a philosopher and mystic and he was and is very influential in the Muslim world because of his deep and detailed explanations of so many ideas in Islam. 55
Page 1 and 2:
Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? The Long O
Page 3 and 4: ARGUMENT 1 First, Dr. Wesley refers
Page 5 and 6: your Allah is one Allah. So stand t
Page 7 and 8: "He ran the race." "He ran up the b
Page 9 and 10: He adds to his case by saying that
Page 11 and 12: Allah, only to turn around and say,
Page 13 and 14: In his review Bro Mubaashir display
Page 15 and 16: 1. Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal affirmed t
Page 17 and 18: came to the Prophet as a young man.
Page 19 and 20: Sunna is a formless, invisible God
Page 21 and 22: Salaam Bro Dr Wesley Muhammad 3.] D
Page 23 and 24: ―When the Prophet tells his peopl
Page 25 and 26: This issue of the significance of t
Page 27 and 28: ―So if it is said (by the believe
Page 29 and 30: When Imam Mubaashir stated; ―As a
Page 31 and 32: 7.] Dr Wesley Muhammad - Response P
Page 33 and 34: ownership rights over this Islam th
Page 35 and 36: secondary meaning ―He manifested
Page 37 and 38: 9.] Dr Wesley Muhammad - Response P
Page 39 and 40: people say, ―He (God) is solid,
Page 41 and 42: ―Within the pages of the Holy Qur
Page 43 and 44: Salaam 12.] Kyle J. Ismail -Respons
Page 45 and 46: 14.] Dr Wesley Muhammad Response As
Page 47 and 48: To negate an act of the past we may
Page 49 and 50: Fakhr al-Din Razi (d. 1209) who, am
Page 51 and 52: which He bestowed on Mary, and a sp
Page 53: After all, how could we believe thi
Page 57 and 58: We are all familiar with the Greek
Page 59 and 60: Your positions were well laid out a
Page 61 and 62: Muslim and thus was an advocate of
Page 63 and 64: different opinions between the Saha
Page 65 and 66: Ru‘ya, with one possible exceptio
Page 67 and 68: In the Pushkin State Museum of Fine
Page 69 and 70: the sociological enigma of the mode
Page 71 and 72: 23.] Imam Salim Mu‟min Response t
show all

Is THEM Guilty of Shirk? - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?