Allah The Source of Light

This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah. Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them. And who believe in what has been revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what was revealed before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain [in faith]. Indeed, those who disbelieve - it is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them - they will not believe.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.2-5]

          Alhamdulillah, praise to Allah. He gives me another chance to write another entry after a very long rest. Actually it is not a rest, but I am busy with my university studies. After three weeks did not write any entry give me another challenge that is to get back the mood and also the idea. Before these, the ideas flowing and I also have set my mind on the next topic. But after a very long period the ideas not going to be the same as the first time think. Alhamdulillah, today He gives me a bit of leisure time to continue writing and dakwah.

          Today’s topic more on misunderstood in the Quran and also the misinterpretation of the Quran. These two lead to another misunderstood and misconception that is about Allah. It looks like I cannot get out from the topic of Allah yet because I see many things are still not clear. Maybe not all of us realised all these things, but there are people who are thinking something that out of our mind. Therefore the topic for today I got it from the debate of Dr Zakir Naik with William Campbell.

          For the second time (maybe), I will just tell you straight away my next topic after todays’. There will no suspense for the next one. We always say Allah can do everything, but there are going to be many contradiction with our statement. So the next topic is still about Allah. The title is likely Can Allah do everything? Let us look to our topic today.

Do you not consider how Allah has created seven heavens in layers. And made the moon therein a [reflected] light and made the sun a burning lamp.

[NUH Ch.71:V.15-16]

          First of all, we are going to look on the views from William Campbell and after that, I will give the answer from Dr Zakir Naik on the misconception from William Campbell. It starts from ayah Quran saying that the moon or in Arabic qamar reflecting the light from the sun or in Arabic syams. The Quran already tells us about these more than 1400 years ago. But the modern science just found it, the moon does not producing its own light. Dr William Campbell said that, if we do research on the Quran we will find something that is not correct.

Blessed is He who has placed in the sky great stars and placed therein a [burning] lamp and luminous moon.

[AL-FURQAN Ch.25:V.61]

          In the Quran says that the moon borrow the light from the sun. This is based on the wordings used in Quran. Burning lamp (siraj) refers to sun and luminous or shining or reflected (munir or nur). We have to know all these wordings first before going deep into the discussion. I also present to you fellow readers a few ayahs from Quran that saying about moon and sun, about reflecting and also burning lamp. You can open the Quran and check the Arabic and also the translation of the ayahs.

And made [therein] a burning lamp.

[AN-NABA’ Ch.78:V.13]

          However, Dr William Campbell does not or maybe did not agree with those ayahs. This is because the words nur or munir do not mean reflection or something like that. He has his own views on the ayahs. He said that nur or munir can only be translated to shining, because at the time of Prophet Muhammad they understand the moon looks shining. He is interpreting the ayahs based on the time. He also gave a few more ayahs that do not describe the words. Here are some ayahs for you to check on it.

Then if they deny you, [O Muhammad] - so were messengers denied before you, who brought clear proofs and written ordinances and the enlightening Scripture.

[ALI IMRAN Ch.3:V.184]

And of the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge or guidance or an enlightening book [from Him].

[AL-HAJ Ch.22:V.8]

Do you not see that Allah has made subject to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth and amply bestowed upon you His favors, [both] apparent and unapparent? But of the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge or guidance or an enlightening Book [from Him].

[LUQMAN Ch.31:V.20]

And if they deny you - then already have those before them denied. Their messengers came to them with clear proofs and written ordinances and with the enlightening Scripture.

[FATIR Ch.35:V.25]

          In the above ayahs, we can find the words nur or munir that represent enlightening in English word. Dr William Campbell said that, both words do not describing reflection of light. He also said that it is more likely to mean the light itself. It means that the scripture producing its own light. However, for the sake of argument he wanted to agree that nur and munir mean reflecting and siraj means burning (producing own light). If that case, we will find a contradiction in another ayahs such as An-Nur Ch.24:V.35 with Al-Ahzab Ch.33:V.45-46.

O Prophet, indeed We have sent you as a witness and a bringer of good tidings and a warner. And one who invites to Allah, by His permission, and an illuminating lamp.

[AL-AHZAB Ch.33:V.45-46]

          In the ayah of An-Nur Ch.24:V.35, Quran says that Allah is the nur. So is that means Allah reflecting light? If Allah reflecting light, who is the source of light? Al-Ahzab Ch.33:V.45-46 give us the shocking answer, Prophet Muhammad is the source of light and Allah reflecting his light. This is the biggest misconception by Dr William Campbell. After does not agree that the Quran already mention moon reflecting light from the sun, now he said that Allah reflecting light from Prophet Muhammad. Remember these things and the answer going to be in the next paragraphs.

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.

[AN-NUR Ch.24:V.35]

          The answer is simple. Actually Allah is the nur and also siraj. It means that Allah producing His own light and also reflecting His light. Nur and munir that were representing the enlightening scripture is true that the scripture is reflecting the light. The scripture is reflecting the light from Allah. Allah is the knowledge and the knowledge is in the scripture. Therefore, it is clear that all those ayahs that mentioning the enlightening scripture mean that they are reflecting light from Allah.

          Then, how about Prophet Muhammad producing his owns light? Actual, in my point of view Prophet Muhammad does not producing his owns light. He becomes illuminating lamp because Allah makes him to be like a light on this world. If Prophet Muhammad has his owns light, it means he can give hidayah to his people to embrace Islam. But it does not happen. So Allah gives a bit of light to him and the light that he brings is the Quran.

          Allah producing His owns light and also reflecting His light. This is logical. For example the lamp we used today. It has reflector at the side to reflect the light produced by the lamp. Although we cannot actually know how Allah reflecting His light, but the example makes us clearer and we can imagine. In the ayah (An-Nur Ch.24:V.35) Allah already make it clear. Allah tells us His light like a niche within which is a lamp and the lamp is in the glass. We know glass can reflect light and refract light. But in this case the glass is reflecting the light. This ayah is very wonderful and beautiful, masyaAllah.

          For the conclusion, we have to study the Quran. Not only reading the Quran, we must also understand it. Look like Dr William Campbell, he is non-Muslim but he do research on the Quran, he study the Quran. But he studies to find the mistakes in the Quran. So we need to study the Quran so that we can help other people that do not understand Quran or misunderstand about the Quran to understand it better.

The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray.

[AL-FATIHAH Ch.1:V.7]

~Pray For MH370~

~Pray For IM 529~

~Wallahua’lam~

The Word of Allah

[He has made it] straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward.

[AL-KAHFI Ch.18:V.2]

          In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Peace be upon all of you. Praise to Allah as He still give me opportunity to write again in this blog. Praise to Him also for giving us longevity to stay on His earth. Thanks to all of you, the readers for giving me a moral support to always write a new entry. Almost every week has an entry, Alhamdulillah. All these ideas not totally originate from me but it is also from other person.

          Every week I try to bring new challenge to me to write a better entry. As for today, it looks like a peak for my blog. I am going to deliver message from a very sensitive issues in Malaysia for the time being. Therefore, before going into the real topic, I hope that everyone can open their mind to accept this message. I am not forcing you to accept my point of view, but to take it and rethink about it. This is the time for us to agree to disagree. So our topic today is about word of Allah.

          I will try my best to touch on other people point of views. There are people who say that the word of Allah can be used by non-Muslim people and there are also people who prohibit the non-Muslim, especially the Christians to use the word of Allah in their Holy Bible. It is not only on can be used or not, but I will also try to touch on the preparation for the Muslims if the word of Allah can be used by others. I think this is going to be a very long entry and hope you will not bored of it.

          I will state my point of view about this issue. I tend to say that the word of Allah can be used by non-Muslims in their daily life talk. But if to use the word of Allah in the Holy Bible, maybe I will say don’t. I will come out the proof later. However, I am not person that have power in the government that can allow and disallow the non-Muslims from using that word. So I can only try to make the Muslim understand the true God through my blog and my entries before.

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

[AL-FATIHAH Ch.1:V.2]

          The simplest evidence I can bring to all of you. The evidence is the verse above, the verse that Muslims read in their prayer, 17 times per day. Most Muslims can understand the meaning of this verse. Allah is the Lord of the whole world. The meaning of the world here is the whole universe. All things were created by Him. It is does not matter you are what religion, or what race, in what country, He is my God and your God. He is my creator and your creator.

          If Allah is only for Muslim or Islam, the verse will say like this; “Lord of the Muslims.” But it is not. Therefore it shows that word of Allah can be used by the others also. For example, the non-Muslims say that Allah makes the rain fall. Yes, they are absolutely correct. Do not we go and corrected them, by saying; “No, you can say Allah. You must say your own God’s name or your idol.” In this case, it looks like the non-Muslims are correct and the Muslims in the wrong way (astray/sesat).

          When the non-Muslims tend to use it, we as Muslims should take this as an opportunity to guide them. We must spread the love and spread the news. We must tell them about Allah, the real God. We should try to make them understand more about Allah correctly and then guide them to embrace Islam. They are asking to step forward and that step making them closer to us. So we need to take this chance to make them one of us.

And if you asked them, "Who sends down rain from the sky and gives life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness?" they would surely say "Allah." Say, "Praise to Allah "; but most of them do not reason.

[AL-ANKABUT Ch.29:V.63]

          There are many examples of verses that similar to the above verse. But I only take one as example to the readers. In this verse, Allah tells our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to go and ask the non-Muslims people about the rain. Prophet Muhammad is told to ask who make the rain down. The people answer that Allah makes the rain fall. Although they are not Islam, but they admit that Allah is the creator. But they are musyrik, the person that double Allah or taking other things as God beside Allah.

          One of the scholar says that, as long as they (non-Muslims) referring Allah to a divine thing. We can accept it. But it they are referring Allah to their idols, we cannot accept it. That is the reason that some people giving the permission to the Christians to use Allah in their Holy Bible because it used to refer to divine thing. But if other religions that worship idols asking the permission to use the word of Allah, I am sure all people will agree not to give the permission.

          There is also evidence in one hadith about treaty between the Muslims and the non-Muslims, in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Both sides agree to use in the name of Allah. You can look by yourself. If I explain here, it will make this entry longer.

The Jews say, "Ezra is the son of Allah "; and the Christians say, "The Messiah is the son of Allah." That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved [before them]. May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded?

[AT-TAUBAH Ch.9:V.30]

          The Jews and the Christians already used the word of Allah before. Like in the above verse, that they misused it. For us (Muslims) we believe that starting from the Prophet Adam (pbuh) until the last prophet that are Muhammad (pbuh), they brought the same religion that is Islam. But most of the time, the follower change the religion. That happened to the Jews and Christians. Therefore, before the Quran was sent to Prophet Muhammad, they (Jews and Christians) already used the word of Allah.

          They (Jews and Christians) misused the word and saying something that make Allah very angry to them. So what they did is very bad things. But some people say that is not the reason to make the word of Allah exclusive for Muslims only.

They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.

[AL-MAIDAH Ch5.V.73]

          Now I am going to give reason from the people that say the word of Allah only can be used for Muslims only. The above verse tells us do not say trinity. Saying Allah is three or have son, it is totally wrong. However, we cannot shut all the people. But maybe we can prevent them (Jews and Christians) from using the word of Allah in their scriptures. In the other country, this problem did not raise. Only in Malaysia we face this problem.

          There are also people say that when the other religions use the word of Allah, it can make Muslims confuse. Yes, I admit this statement has the truth. Let us look back to our own background. For example me myself, I did not learn much about religious things when I was a young boy. Maybe people that did not learn will confuse. Although there is in syllabus at school to learn about religious (Islam), but people just take it to pass in exam. They did not learn to understand and to practise it.

          There are also people think that the one who are asking to use the word of Allah because they want to introduce pluralism in Malaysia. They want to make people think that all religion is the same and then people from different religion can marry as they believe in the same God that is Allah. Yes, maybe it is true. The other thing is, Muslims feel that they will be insulted when the non-Muslims use the word of Allah. When the non-Muslims say that Allah is 3 in 1 or has son, this is like insulting the Muslims. Yes, I agree with that also.

So woe to those who write the "scripture" with their own hands, then say, "This is from Allah ," in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.

[AL-BAQARAH Ch.2:V.79]

          I bring to you three reasons and I will answer that. It looks like I am in both sides. Agree and also disagree. I go to the easiest point first, that is about insulting. In Arab, the Christians used the word of Allah in their Holy Bible. They can use it. But there is no such thing happen there. About the pluralism, in Malaysia, for a Muslim to get marry they have to undergo many processes. Some important steps must be included so that the Muslims do not marry the non-Muslims before they (non-Muslims) revert. Although in Quran there is verse Allah says that we (Muslims) can marry the women from Jews and Christians. But there are explanations behind that verse.

          Next is about making the Muslims confusing. They claimed that by using the word of Allah, the non-Muslims, especially the Christian’s missionaries can make the Muslims confuse and convert them. That is true at some point. But the government in Malaysia claimed that Malaysia is an Islamic country. They (the government) already rules for more than 50 years. They should already made the people (Muslims) very good in Islam and have a good knowledge about faith (aqidah). Now we (all of us) should blame them (the government) for not doing their duties efficiently or maybe did not doing their job at all.

          In Malaysia, the other religion (except Islam) cannot spread their religion. I mean they cannot do dakyah. But maybe there are some people disobey the rules and still spreading their religion. This is the rule in Malaysia that the government made it. So the government should responsible on this thing. If the Ministry of Education plays their role, make sure that the syllabus for Islamic subject is good enough to handle such as this problem. Not only for student at primary school and secondary school, have they also had to make sure the university student also learn Islamic subject no matter what courses you are taking.

Then whoever argues with you about it after [this] knowledge has come to you - say, "Come, let us call our sons and your sons, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then supplicate earnestly [together] and invoke the curse of Allah upon the liars [among us]."

[ALI IMRAN Ch.3:V.61]

          Maybe I already start to give some ideas or ways to get out from this problem. But the above is for the government to check their own selves. I do not think there will be a person from them to read this entry. Now we are person that do not have power. We can only say can or cannot, but we cannot force them not to use or to force them to use the word of Allah. So then, what we can do?

          For person like me, I can only write entries so that people can read it and understand it. This is the reason I wanted to open a blog and the reason that make me write many entries about God @ Allah. We have to start from our family members, our father, mother, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters and so on. Then we have to spread the knowledge to community so that people can understand it and know about it. Maybe you can share this entry and the other entries in FB or other places.

          For organisation or NGOs (Islamic), they must always do a program called street dakwah. Go down to the street, meet people that are non-Muslims and spread the news and the messages. So that the non-Muslims close to Islam, so that they can understand Islam better and we can reduce the misunderstood between them and us. Program such as Interfaith Dialogue also must be done frequently. Only in such program we can gather the Muslims and the non-Muslims. This is what Quran tells us to do, like the above verse and al-Baqarah verse 111. So in this program we can easily spread our religion (Islam) to the other. We also can show to them the truth in our religion.

          I should make the conclusion now because I think if I continue to elaborate about this topic it is going to be longer. There are many people outside that can talk about this topic in very detail. I hope that I already touch on the important points and hope that my messages were delivered clearly without any misunderstood from the readers. My conclusion is very simple, that is the below verse. Thank you for giving time to read this long entry.

For you is your religion, and for me is my religion.

[AL-KAFIRUN Ch.109:V.6]

~Wallahua’lam~

Real God

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance.

[AL-KAHFI Ch.18:V.1]

          Assalamualaikum, peace be upon you. It is good to meet you again in this blog with a new entry. Before I proceed to my entry, let we take a few second to praise Allah for His Kindness, for His Merciful, for His Gracious and many more. I hope that the readers do not feel bored because almost every entry I started with praising Allah. For me, I think that all the time we need to praise Him. But unfortunately, we are human that easily forgotten or default to praise Him. That is why I take just a few second to make the readers and I to praise to Allah.

          Today our topic is about the real God. This entry is like a conclusion to my previous entries. I will try to summarise the entries before in this entry. I think only two entries that I did not write about Allah. The entries are about Quran and Angels. Therefore we have to take an exemption for the two entries. This is because this entry is summarise and conclusion about God or about Allah. In the pillars of faith, the first thing is about Allah. It is so important and I hope that I already cover the important parts and also hope that the readers already understand the messages that I delivered before.

Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One.

[AL-IKHLAS Ch.112:V.1]

          Firstly, there must be a God. I mean that God must exist. If a person approaches you and saying that there is no God, directly we have to not accept the ideology. I already prove to you the existence of God in my entry before. Different people will have different style of proving. Some people like to prove the existence of God by using science, or by using logic, or by using any theories, or by using the language in Quran, or by using history in the Quran, and many other ways.

          Then if there is a person comes and says about God, surah or chapter al-Ikhlas is the check list. Use the surah al-Ikhlas as a check list, to check whether the thing is God or not. The first verse says that God is only one. There are religions that believing in many Gods. Therefore, the first thing they already failed. So we do not have to accept their thought or religion.

          Next, a person comes and claiming that he or she is God. It is true. There are persons who think that they are God. And unfortunately, there are people who believe them. Maybe the first point they are correct, because in person they are one. If happen that case, we have to go to the next point in the check list. That is the second verse of the surah.

Allah, the Eternal Refuge.

[AL-IKHLAS Ch.112:V.2]

          The second verse means that Allah is independent. He does not have to depend on other things. He does not have to eat, to sleep, to marry, to even rest, to play and so on. But we as a creature, we have to depend on the people or other things. We need oxygen to breathing, we need meat to eat, and we need water to drink. We need to marry to make sure that human will not extinct, we need to play or exercise to make our body healthy, we need to sleep to get a rest and many more.

          If a human being says that he or she is God, they did not pass the second point in the check list. There are religions believing in God-man or Man-God. If we use this surah as an indicator, easily we can reject the religion. With the surah also we can easily know that the religion of God-Man or Man-God is true or not. But people from other religion that believing in these things, they feel like we (Muslims) insulted them. Actually we are not insulted other religion, for us that are proves. We need to understand and need to differentiate between insulting and proving.

          Then there are religions that saying their God is eternal refuge. They are claiming that their God passes the second check list. I have no problem with that. Although I think that almost all religions stuck at the second check list. I still have two more points to go in the check list. So let us check it together.

He neither begets nor is born.

[AL-IKHLAS Ch.112:V.3]

          Maybe Christianity and Judaism claim that Allah has son. I say maybe because I am not too sure about Judaism. But I am sure about Christianity. However there is something confusing in Christianity. This is because some says that Jesus is son of God. But there are some says that Jesus is God. In Christian itself, they argue about my statement above. It looks like a contradiction to us.

          If we take both, Jesus is God and also son of God. Let’s look at this analogy. My father’s name is Afendi and my name is Fahzimran. By looking at the name we can identify that my father and I are different person. I am his son and how I am going to be a father to myself? I do not think there are person can answer this. But it is true if there is someone calling my father’s name at me, we called it surname. It is surname, just name and not physically.

          I think that most religion can only go up to the third points. There is one more point. Although there is no more religion can go through number three but I still want to go to the last point. Maybe there are religions same at this point, but there are not true at the other points. So we only accept a religion that can fulfils all these four points in the check list.

Nor is there to Him any equivalent.

[AL-IKHLAS Ch.112:V.4]

          I think I already explain this verse in previous entry. There is nothing that equal to God @ Allah. Nothing can be compare to Him. He does not have physical hands like us, or legs, or eyes. What creatures have, it is not the same with Him. We cannot imagine how He looks like. Therefore we do not accept religions that practice on idol worship. In my previous entry, I did touch on other things also about this verse and I think I do not want to repeat that again. You can read it in Creator Been Created.

          I think that I want to write a simple and short entry, but it looks like other entries also. Not too long and not too short I think. So hope that this entry is clear with it messages. Hope people reading this entry can understand it very well. If this entry or my blog is very meaningful and can be share with others, I allow you to share it. I hope that I already cover about faith (akidah). If not all, I think it is overall.

          Next entries I think I still want to talk about Allah. But it is about the contradiction or the misunderstood about Allah. It is the same concept such as using the words “We” and “He”. I also want to open to some ideas or improvements in my blog. I hope that the readers can give some ideas to me. I want to make things clear about Allah first. Then I will continue in other chapters or other things.

It is We who relate to you, [O Muhammad], their story in truth. Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.

[AL-KAHFI Ch.18:V.13]

~Wallahua’lam~