Praise be to Allah, and enough prayer and peace be upon the Prophet Mustafa..And after.
These days, we find some Muslims – especially young people – asking: Why are we Muslims?
Are we Muslims because we were born that way?
If we were born in another country, would this affect the religion we follow?
Or would we have found evidence that would lead us to Islam?
We must mention at the beginning that this is a legitimate question. We find that the Qur’an condemns a person’s belief in basing his belief on merely imitating one’s fathers and grandfathers. Like those who said: { Indeed, we found our fathers upon a nation, and indeed we are following in their footsteps } (Al-Zukhruf: 23), so these and others like them blocked their minds from looking at the truth and the evidence of its sincerity, and they deafened their ears from hearing it, and were content to sit still. Where the minds of their early fathers were lost, the Qur’an denounced this for them Stagnation and its ugliness, and he called on them to exercise their minds and benefit from them, so he said: { Say, “If God had willed, I would not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you. I have remained among you for a lifetime before that. Will you not understand? Un } (Yunus: 16).
We find in Islam – because it is the religion of truth – the encouragement to research and study the evidence of prophecy because it increases the believer’s faith, and it may be a reason for the conversion of Islam to whomever God intends good for. The Holy Qur’an has called us to contemplate the evidence of the prophecy of the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, in more than one verse: {Say, “I am only advising you. ” One thing – that you stand up for God in twos and singly, and then reflect: Your companion is not of Paradise. He is only a warner to you before a severe torment. } ( Saba: 46).
But what happens after asking these questions? Will a person fall into laziness and cognitive anxiety and not seriously search for the answer? So he had contented himself with bringing upon himself anxiety and doubt about the faith? Or will he do his best to search for evidence of the true religion?
Islam is the true religion because the one who brought it is a prophet sent by the Lord of the worlds, and his Lord has supported him with many things that indicate that he was sent by him to guide people. Whoever reflects on this evidence of the prophethood of Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, knows that his religion – that is, Islam – is the true religion that The Creator of the universe was pleased with it for the worlds.
When a Muslim believes in the prophecy of the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, he believes in a belief as firmly established as the mountains, and its stability is due to it being a belief based on knowledge, evidence, and proof. When contemplating the evidence of prophecy, We find that it is due to two things:
- The first : the personality of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him
. - Second: What the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, brought
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They are united by the words of God Almighty: { Have they not considered the word? Or has it come to them unless it came to their forefathers? Or have they not recognized their Messenger so they deny him? Or do they say that It is a paradise. Rather, he brought to them the truth, and most of them hate the truth . [Al-Mu’minun/68-70].
Ibn al-Qayyim, may God have mercy on him, said[1]:
“And he said in proving the prophethood of his Messenger, taking into account contemplation of his circumstances and contemplation of his call and what he brought: { Have they not considered the statement…. } Verses, so God Almighty called them to contemplate the statement and contemplate the state of the one who said it, for the fact that a statement about something is a lie and a falsehood is known from the statement itself at times, and its contradiction and confusion, and the appearance of evidence of lying to it, for the lie is apparent on its pages, and appears on its outward and hidden aspects, and is known from the state of the one who says it at times. It is known for lying, immorality, cunning and deception, his sayings are only suitable for his actions, and it does not come from him from saying and verb what comes from the righteous, honest, exonerated from every obscenity, treachery, lies and immorality, but the heart of this and his intention and his saying and his work is similar to each other Eat, So God Almighty called them to reflect on what was said and to contemplate the biography of the speaker and his circumstances, and then the truth of the matter will become clear to them and that what he said is at the highest level of truthfulness.”
Under these two matters, there is a lot of evidence for the prophecy of Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him. Inferring the truth of the prophecy of the Messenger, peace and blessings of God be upon him, is easy and convincing to the common man and the educated. Among them are the miracles of the Qur’an, personal and moral perfection, the occurrence of miracles and the supernatural in his hands, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and truthful information about the unseen. Under each of these types there are very many examples and diverse evidence.[2] .
Therefore, belief in his prophecy, peace and blessings of God be upon him, is not a purely Islamic issue, nor is it an expression of psychological and spiritual feelings, nor is it a limited human imitation. Rather, it is an issue of belief, demonstrative faith, based on proven rational foundations and certain inferential proofs.[3] .
We will further explain this by speaking in some detail about two of the evidences of prophecy [ 4].
First : The miracle of the Holy Qur’an:
It is the first, greatest, and most apparent evidence of prophecy that surpasses the appearance of the sun and the moon. It is the Noble Qur’an revealed to the heart of the faithful Messenger, in a clear Arabic language, with which God challenged the ancients and the others to produce a surah like his, but they were unable, and to this day until God inherits the earth and those on it.
The Prophet , peace and blessings of God be upon him, came to the people with a clear and clear argument, which is the Qur’an, and asked them to refute it. His speech was to those of eloquence and the highest level of eloquence among them, but despite that, they were completely unable to come up with anything like the Qur’an. If the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was of the human race and his mental and physical abilities did not differ from the abilities they knew . How was it possible for him to come up with words of the same type as human speech, when all human beings are incapable of coming up with something similar to it, while repeatedly challenging them?
The Qur’an’s evidence of the truth of the Prophet’s prophecy is based on two things:
The first: It is impossible for the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, to be the source of the Qur’an. The evidence for this origin is varied, including:
- The Qur’an included matters that the Messenger, peace and blessings of God be upon him, could not have come up with on his own. In the Qur’an, there is a large portion of purely traditional meanings in which there is no room for intelligence or deduction, and there is no way to know them for those who missed them by learning about previous nations, the facts of his time, and future matters.
- The Prophet , peace and blessings of God be upon him, was illiterate and was not known for his extensive travels. However, he brought knowledge and sciences in the Qur’an that could not be compatible with his state of knowledge.
- The Qur’an contains many scenes that indicate that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was merely a recipient of the Qur’an and a conveyer of it, such as the repetition of the word (qul).
- The Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, was going through great circumstances and great events, and despite all of that, nothing of that appeared in the Qur’an like the events of the year of sorrow.
Second: It is proven that the jinn and mankind are unable to produce anything like the Qur’an:
The inability of the Arabs whom the Prophet, peace and blessings of God challenged with the Qur’an, to produce something similar to it is sufficient evidence to prove the inability of other nations, because the inability of specialists to do something proves the inability of others, more aptly. His words Rather, what is meant by parity with the Qur’an is equality with the Qur’an in eloquence, eloquence, strength of statement, accuracy of rulings, and superiority of the contents with any other Arabic word, or to come with something that is higher than it in these matters.
The proven inability of the Arabs – and the people accordingly – is evidence that the Qur’an is outside the usual norms of speech. Universal norms are based on the fact that all people are not unable to oppose speech of the same type as theirs unless it is beyond their ability.
What distinguishes the Qur’an from the rest of the evidence of prophecy is the impossibility of doubting its authenticity. It is now in the hands of people in the east and west of the earth. They can return to it to confirm for themselves the truthfulness of the prophecy. Ibn al-Jawzi said.[5] – May God have mercy on him -: “May God Almighty make this Qur’an a miracle for Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, that will remain forever, to show evidence of its truthfulness after his death, and He made it evidence of the truthfulness of the prophets, as it is their confirmation and informant of their condition.”
The second : is the occurrence of miracles in his hands, peace and blessings be upon him :
What is meant is that the Prophet , may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, had many events occurring before him that transcended universal laws and were beyond the power of humans and jinn, and none of them could do them. And the occurrence of miracles before him, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, did not occur once or twice, but rather it occurred dozens of times and in different and diverse fields.
These reports were frequent and spread among the Companions to a very large extent, and some of them were witnessed by a large number of them, then they spread to the generation that came after the Companions, and the same was true of those after them. Thus, the totality of these reports achieved the moral frequency that leads to certain knowledge of the occurrence of these miracles.
These miracles occurred many times in his hands, and many scholars have tracked down their news and reported them in special books.[6] , Among those miracles are:
- He (peace and blessings of God be upon him) had a small amount of food in his presence until those in the army who were with him were eating from it, and some of it was left over. The hadiths about that are in the two Sahihs and elsewhere.
- The spring of water from between his fingers, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the abundance of water until the entire army drank from it and performed ablution, and the hadiths about that are also in the two Sahih books.
- Informing him, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, about unseen, future matters, and then they happen as he told them. Many things happened from what he told him, some of them during the life of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and some of them after him.
The miracles’ evidence of prophecy is made up of two things: the fact that the Sunnahs were broken before him on a frequent basis, and the fact that he, peace and blessings be upon him, informed God that he had been sent by him. These two meanings together constitute evidence that those miracles occurred in support of God and in honor of His Messenger .
The situation of the one who claims to be a prophet is confined between two things, to which there is no third: either he is one of the most truthful and virtuous people, if he is telling the truth, or he is one of the most deceitful and despicable people, if he is a liar, and there can never be a situation other than these two.
This evidence is the tip of the iceberg of evidence of his prophecy, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and his sincerity in his call, and it is convincing for everyone who has a mind searching for the truth, and a sound heart that aspires to reach it, and praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds.
