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It is well known that Islam, with which the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.) had been sent by Allah, is the last of religions as to the matter of the Divine Legislation. Allah the Almighty says: Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but he is the Messenger of Allah and the Last of the prophets…[1] Since Muhammad (a.s.) is the last of the prophets and messengers and his Book is the last of the Books revealed by Allah, so there shall be no Divine Book after the Holy Qur'an, and that Islam is the basic religion in which all the divine religions have been fused. Allah says: He it is Who sent His Messenger with the guidance and the true religion that He may make it prevail over all the religions; and Allah is enough for a witness.[2] After the advent of Muhammad (a.s.) as prophet, it has become obligatory on all human beings to turn from the previous religions whether Judaism, Christianity, or and religion else and embrace Islam and to worship Allah the Almighty according to the Sharia of Muhammad (a.s.), because Allah will not accept any religion other than Islam since then. Allah says: And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter, he shall be one of the losers.[3] [1] Qur'an, 33:40.
[2] Qur'an, 48:28. [3] Qur'an, 3:85. |
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We understand from this that the Jews and the Christians whatever they claim that their laws and legislations are true and that they follow the Prophet Moses (a.s.) or the Prophet Jesus Christ, the reality requires that they must follow the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.) since the moment Allah sent him as a messenger. A Christian has no right to say that he wants to remain on his religion, nor does a Jew. The fact is that Muhammad (a.s.) was sent a prophet to all mankind and as mercy to all peoples with their different races and beliefs. This does not mean that we condemn the previous divine religions, but Allah the Almighty knew that his people distorted his laws and made lawful what was unlawful and unlawful what was lawful due to their own desires; therefore, they went astray and made those who came after them go astray. So the advent of Muhammad (a.s.) the last of the prophets was mercy to all mankind in order to restore themselves again and turn back to the truth, and so they would win the Paradise. However, most of people hate the truth. Desires, fancies, and fanaticisms play with them, and devils occupy them that they become excessive in their deviation. Allah says in this concern: Those who disbelieved from among the followers of the Book and the polytheists could not have separated (from the faithful) until there had come to them the clear evidence; a messenger from Allah, reciting pure pages, wherein are all the right ordinances. And those who were given the Book did not become divided except after clear evidence had come to them.[1] It is not sufficient too that a Jew or a Christian says, ‘I believe in Muhammad, but I will remain on my religion’, as I myself have heard from some Arab Christians. We say to such people that Allah does not accept from them except when they actually follow him. Allah says in this concern: [1] Qur'an, 98:1-4.
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Those who follow the Messenger-Prophet, who can neither read nor write, whom they find written down with them in the Torah and the Gospel (who) enjoins them good and forbids them evil, and makes lawful to them the good things and makes unlawful to them impure things, and removes from them their burden and the shackles which were upon them; so (as for) those who believe in him and honor him and help him, and follow the light which has been sent down with him, these it is that are the successful.[1] This invitation from Allah the Almighty was not limited to the Jews and the Christians, who all represented “the People of the Book”, but it included all the human beings with no exception. Allah the Almighty says: Say: O people! surely I am the Messenger of Allah to you all, of Him Whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, there is no god but He; He brings to life and causes to die; therefore believe in Allah and His messenger, the Prophet, who can neither read nor write, who believes in Allah and His words, and you follow him so that you may walk in the right way.[2] The Holy Qur'an is too clear in the obligation of following the Prophet (a.s.) and not only the believing in his prophethood, and this is the wisdom of Allah in sending the messengers. We have never heard in all the history of humankind that Allah has sent a messenger to say to people: ‘remain on your religion that you have inherited from the messenger that had come before me.’[3] [1] Qur'an, 7:157.
[2] Qur'an, 7:158. [3] Therefore, the Jews turned to be racists not accepting except those whose blood was Jewish. Thus, they gathered together their scatterings claming that they were “the chosen people of Allah” and any other than them were not human, depending on the Torah that was lost and ruined after the Babylonian Captivity at the hands of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar |
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All of the prophets called for the belief in all the messengers of Allah, so that no one might harm their prophethood or be excessive as to their actual position and give them the position of deity. Allah the Almighty says: (The messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers; they all believe in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers; We make no difference between any of His messengers; and they say: We hear and obey, our Lord! Thy forgiveness (do we crave), and to Thee is the eventual course.[1] who occupied Jerusalem in the year 586 BC. The Jews, who were not killed, remained captives in Babylon until the year 457 BC., when they could go back to Palestine by the assistance of Cyrus the great king of Persia. After their going back to Palestine, a man called Ezra collected and reformed the books of the Old Testaments, which are the Torah of today.
From this, we know that between the loss of the Torah and its regathering, there was more than 125 years. During this period, most of the memorizers of the Torah were killed or they died in prison where they were forbidden to practice any religious activity. Therefore, the Torah came to have interventions of human beings that it is now full of fables, contradictions, untruths, distorted events and realities…etc. The same thing happened to Christianity; the four Bibles were not written down at the time of Jesus Christ (a.s.). The oldest one, which is “the Gospel of Mark”, was written down forty years later on in Rome. Therefore, it was like the Torah as to distortion, besides that all that was at the time of Augustine who mixed between idolatry and the statements of the Bible; the idolatry on which the idolaters of India, China, and old Egypt agreed on, such as the belief of Trinity and the ascribing of vices to the prophets (a.s.) and even to Jesus Christ (a.s.). Moreover, they annulled the main purpose of religions, which is the guiding of human beings, when they claimed that Jesus Christ (a.s.) had redeemed the criminals and sinners, so there was no necessity of guidance after him or to send other prophets. For more details, refer to “the School journey” and “the Guidance to the Religion of al-Mustafa” by Sheikh Muhammad Jawad al-Balaghi. [1] Qur'an, 2:285. |
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If we know that Islam is the last religion that Allah the Almighty has endowed His faithful people with, so its laws and rulings are valid for every time and every place, because there is no prophet coming after the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.) and no divine book coming after the Holy Qur'an according to this saying of Allah: This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion.[1] However, some Muslims, if not most of them, do not abide by the laws and rulings of Islam claiming that they are difficult to carry out and that most of (ordinary) people are unable to carry them out. Some, who are the learned people, say that it is necessary to develop the rulings according to the requirements of the modern life. They see that ijtihad[2] is necessary in every thing and claim thatijtihad is one of the virtues of Islam and one of its prides. These learned peopled may affect the minds of many young students, especially that they pretend they love Islam too much and are too careful to apply its rulings. They justify the underdevelopment and deterioration of Muslims as because they have not developed their religion, which had been established fifteen centuries ago in a time where there was no means of transportation except mules and donkeys. But as for today where we live in the age of rockets, whose speed exceeds the speed of sound, telephone, fax, and computer, through which man can contact with any spot in the world within a few seconds, we cannot remain looking at the Qur'an with that superficial look and we judge against a thief by cutting his hand, or a criminal by cutting his head by the sword…they often say so and have odd philosophies in this concern. [1] Qur'an, 5:3.
[2] Using of one’s (usually a mujtahid) effort to form a judgment on questions concerning the Sharia and religious affairs. |
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Once, I was talking with a university professor of this line. In my talk with him, I said that the messenger of Allah (a.s.) had said: There is no magnanimous young man except (like) Ali, and no sword except Thul Faqar.” He laughed at me and said, “O doctor, do not say like this again. It was valid at the time of the Prophet (a.s.) when the sword had a role in wining the battles and it was the only weapon of which heroes prided in their poems, but now we are in the age of the machine gun that shots seventy bullets in a second, and the jet fighter that can destroy a whole city in some minutes. In fact, we are in the age of the atom and nuclear bombs that can destroy a continent in some moments. Are you ignorant of all this and are still talking about the sword and the courage of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib?” I said, “This does not refute that or contradict it, and every occasion has its own context. Do you not see that when Allah talked about weapons, He included in one word all means of destruction when He said in brief: And prepare against them what force you can and horses tied at the frontier.[1] Thus, the Qur'an connected what military means the people at the time of the Prophet (a.s.) had to win battles with what the people of this time have. So, this Qur’anic statement: And prepare against them what force you can, can be understood by every one according to the language of his time. The source and meaning of “force” is the same to the all, and this is like the saying of Allah: …and We have made the iron, wherein is great violence and advantages to men…[2] [1] Qur'an, 8:60.
[2] Qur'an, 57:25. |
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Therefore, all weapons, whether the simple ones like the sword or spears or the developed like tanks, machine guns, and bombs, are defined as of “violence”, and all means of ease and comfort such as cars, airplanes, ships, televisions, and others are defined as “advantages to people”. Glory be to Allah Who has created iron and made it usable for people and taught them what they did not know. Thus, the Holy Qur'an is in the hands of all kinds of people that every generation can understand it by the language of its age. But as for your saying “we cannot look at the Qur'an with a superficial look that we judge against a thief by cutting his hand or a criminal by cutting his head by the sword”, if by this you try to replace the laws of Allah with human made laws whose makers claim that they are more beneficent and merciful to people than their Creator is to them, then this can never be accepted and it is undoubtedly clear disbelief. But if you mean by “development” the development of the means of execution against a criminal or the means of cutting a thief’s hand, this can be discussed, because these are minor things that the Islamic Legislation did not concentrate on, but it concentrated on the abiding by the carrying out of sentences determined by Allah the Almighty concerning “retribution”. Allah says: O you who believe! retaliation is prescribed for you…And there is life for you in (the law of) retaliation, O men of understanding, that you may guard yourselves against evil.[1] As for cutting the hand of a thief by a sword, a cleaver, or a modern tool, the legal ruler (judge) or the religious authority can give his opinion in the matter (by deriving it due to the legal proofs). What is important, dear sir, is that we should not replace the laws of Allah by positive laws that agreed on by the European systems that have abrogated the death sentence against criminals whatever extreme their crimes are. [1] Qur'an, 2:178-179.
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Allah says: And there is life for you in (the law of) retaliation, O men of understanding. The meaning of the saying of Allah is that if we abrogate the laws of Allah and abolish the law of retaliation, our life shall be with no safety and security, and criminals shall corrupt everything. Then, life shall become as hell with no goodness or peace. This university professor debated saying, “Evil is not to be treated with evil. Statistics has proved that some of those, who were sentenced to death for the accusation of crime, were innocent.” I said, “With my respect to you professor, but by your saying “evil is not to be treated with evil” you have made yourself more aware than Allah the Creator of everything and this is not your right. And as for your saying that some of those, who were sentenced to death, were innocent, this is another matter. To your knowledge, I say that Islam does not punish just for suspicion or accusation, but after evidence, witnesses, and confession.” The debate came to no use, because each one of us clung to what he had.[1] [1] The likes of this professor who have westernized and who live with the complex of the yielding before the masses of iron and bricks arranged there even if by stealing and assassinating other peoples, or even all humankind. The Nazis, for example, and since they felt that they had some arms, adopted the slogan of “the Aryan race”. Under this banner of racism, they destroyed civilizations and killed ten millions of people in two destructive wars within no more than a quarter of a century. And the allies were not better than them; they invaded the different nations as colonists and tore those nations into pieces in order to be able to rule them and control their treasures and resources. In this way, they built their false civilization on the bloods, sweat, and efforts of the subdued peoples. In the same way of the Nazi model, the American tyranny succeeded in blackmailing different countries and adopting the illegitimate child “Israel” and secretly and openly brought up and assisted it by all means until it became a pit of the
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It would be better to end this section with what Imam Ali (a.s.) has said about the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.) and about Islam. He said: He (Allah) has sent him with the shining light, the clear proof, the right method, and the guiding Book. His family is the best of families and his tree is the best of trees; its branches are straight and its fruits are hanging loosely. His birth was in Mecca and his immigration was in the Good City where his mention went high and his call reached too far. He has sent him with a sufficient argument, curative breach, and preventing invitation (that prevented every corruption of the pre-Islamic age). He (Allah) has declared by him (the Prophet) the unknown laws, suppressed by him the irrelevant heresies, and explained by him the decisive judgments. So whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, his misery becomes certain, his firm hold is broken, his fall becomes great, and his end comes to eternal sadness and severe torment…[1] This is exactly as what has been declared by the Holy Qur'an: worst criminals and blood-suckers in the world.
Whereas, Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) came to enliven humanity inside man following the true Mohammedan Islam and saying, “A strong man is weak before me until I take the right from him, and the weak is strong to me until I take back the right for him.” He liberated man when he fought against the enemies of humanity. He said to Malik al-Ashtar when appointing him as the governor over Egypt, “…and do not be as predacious beast over them…for people are of two kinds; either your brother in religion or your equal in creation.” He also said, “Do not be a slave to another while Allah has created you free.” So man whatever he is; the black, the poor, and the weak walk under the banner of Ali ibn Abi Talib (a.s.) that carries the high values of liberation and human rights, whereas some people become mean and weak before technology that is possessed by the traders of wars and the suckers of peoples’ bloods. [1] Nahjol Balagha, sermon 159. |
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And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers.[1] I think that after this explanation, no argument or excuse shall remain for those who flatter their Jewish and Christian friends and say to them: We and you are on the truth as long as we all believe in one God Who has sent Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, and if we are different as to the prophets, we have agreed on the One Who has sent them to us. Allah says: Say: Do you dispute with us about Allah, and He is our Lord and your Lord, and we shall have our deeds and you shall have your deeds, and we are sincere to Him. Nay! do you say that Abraham and Ishmael and Jacob and the Tribes were Jews or Christians? Say: Are you better knowing or Allah? And who is more unjust than he who conceals a testimony that he has from Allah? And Allah is not at all heedless of what you do.[2] [1] Qur'an, 3:85.
[2] Qur'an, 2:139-140. |
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