Did Prophet Muhammad Know the Meaning of Everything in the Holy Quran?
Published in July 24, 2018
Translated by: Ahmed Fathy
Introduction:
1- Authors of any books are fully aware of the contents and ideas of their books; we know this very well since we have been an author since 1977. Any book of ours begins with a central idea or topic; we gather and collect its material and analyze/study all points and angles of it and then rearrange them into chapters and parts; we revise each line written by us many times; each of our books reflects – at least – a stage in our career as a thinker; each book carry our name, whether it is published in print or online, and it is a criterion to measure our abilities as an author; readers who read our books read into our mentality and our ideas as a thinker.
2- Does the above point apply to the Quran and Muhammad? Of course not! Why? We provide an answer to this question in the points below.
Firstly:
1- The Holy Quran is God's Word; it is never authored by any human beings; in contrast, each of the different books of the so-called hadiths has an author whose name appears on its cover; this or that author had made a title for their books; e.g., (Al-Mowata') by Malik, (Mosnad) by Ibn Hanbal, and (Sahih Hadiths) by Al-Bokhary and Moslem.
2- Of course, such fiqh and hadiths books are never part of Islam; they have nothing to do with Islam; they are never part of Divine, Celestial Revelation from the Lord Allah. Authors of such books are not gods/deities; they will be judged on the Last Day like all humanity (prophets and non-prophets); their judgment will be severe for the lies/falsehoods they have fabricated in their books and ascribed to God and to His Religion.
Secondly:
1- Prophet Muhammad never claimed that he were the author of the Quran; this false claim is propagated by his enemies in all eras.
2- The Quran is a Miracle and a Unique Sign that challenges and defies all human minds; when disbelievers of Arabia accused the Arab prophet of the gentiles, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah, of inventing/fabricating the Quranic verses, God's response, or challenge, has been expressed in these verses: "Or do they say, "He made it up"? Rather, they do not believe. So let them produce a discourse like it, if they are truthful." (52:33-34); "Or do they say, "He invented it?" Say, "Then produce ten chapters like it, invented, and call upon whomever you can, besides God, if you are truthful." But if they fail to answer you, know that it was revealed with Allah's knowledge, and that there is no God but He. Will you then submit?" (11:13-14); "Or do they say, "He has forged it"? Say, "Then produce a single Chapter like it, and call upon whomever you can, apart from God, if you are truthful."" (10:38); "And if you are in doubt about what We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a Chapter like these, and call your witnesses apart from God, if you are truthful. But if you do not - and you will not - then beware the Fire whose fuel is people and stones, prepared for the disbelievers." (2:23-24).
3- God is Unique and so is His Book; no human beings and no jinn can produce something like the Quran: "...There is nothing like Him. He is the Hearing, the Seeing." (42:11); "Say, "If the humankind and jinn came together to produce the like of this Quran, they could never produce the like of it, even if they backed up one another."" (17:88) both 26:11 and 17:88 came only once in the Quran to assert these facts: nothing is like God and there is nothing like His Word; i.e., the Quran.
4- God's comment here is of vital importance about their inability to produce even one Chapter like those of the Quran: "In fact, they deny what is beyond the limits of their knowledge, and whose realization has not yet reached them..." (10:39).
4/1: Since the Arabs did not understand the Quran fully, they denied it; the Quran is a challenge, as God defies all human beings and jinn in all eras (till the end of days) to attempt to produce a Chapter like its Chapters.
4/2: The term "realization" here in 10:39 means that things predicted in the Quran which have come true in this world and the other things that will come true on the Last Day in the Hereafter. This also applies to all human beings and jinn since the era in which the Quran was revealed and in all eras till the end of days.
4/3: Some Quranic predictions came true during Muhammad's lifetime.
4/3/1: When the Byzantines achieved victory over the Persians after the initial defeat: "The Byzantines have been defeated. In a nearby territory. But following their defeat, they will be victorious. In a few years. The matter is up to God, in the past, and in the future. On that day, the believers will rejoice. In God's victory. He supports whomever He wills. He is the Almighty, the Merciful. The promise of God - God never breaks His promise, but most people do not know." (30:2-6).
4/3/2: When believers entered into Mecca: "God has fulfilled His Messenger's vision in truth: "You will enter the Sacred Mosque, God willing, in security, heads shaven, or hair cut short, not fearing. He knew what you did not know, and has granted besides that an imminent victory."" (48:27).
4/3/3: When thee words were uttered by the ignorant ones: "The ignorant among the people will say, "What has turned them away from the direction of prayer they once followed?" Say, "To God belong the East and the West. He guides whom He wills to a Straight Path."" (2:142).
4/4: Some Quranic predictions came true after Muhammad's death.
4/4/1: Civil war among Arabs and "companions" of Qorayish were miraculously predicted here when God has addressed those deniers and disbelievers: "Say, "He is Able to send upon you an affliction, from above you, or from under your feet. Or He can divide you into factions, and make you taste the violence of one another. Note how We explain the revelations, so that they may understand." But your people rejected it, though it is the truth. Say, "I am not responsible for you." For every happening is a finality, and you will surely know." (6:65-67).
4/4/2: Quranic predictions about Signs of the Hour (and some of them are witnessed in our modern era); the Hour draws nearer as God has told us so in the Quran 14 centuries ago; the major sign is that human beings assume they have mastered and controlled the Earth: "The likeness of the present life is this: water that We send down from the sky is absorbed by the plants of the earth, from which the people and the animals eat. Until, when the earth puts on its fine appearance, and is beautified, and its inhabitants think that they have mastered it, Our command descends upon it by night or by day, and We turn it into stubble, as if it had not flourished the day before. We thus clarify the revelations for people who reflect." (10:24).
4/5: Other metaphysical aspects of the future will be fulfilled/realized when the Hour comes, the universe is destroyed, the Last-Day events take place, and people are resurrected, gathered, judged, and made to enter into Hell or Paradise.
4/6: Some of the scientific miraculous indications are mentioned in the Quran and are understood only recently in the 20th and 21st century A.D.
4/6/1: The numerical miraculous features of the Quran is a branch of study that began when some researchers examined the number 19 and then gave numerical values to Arabic letters of Quranic words and verses; this proves that God preserves the Quranic text and has made it in a unique way than cannot be imitated; this is an amazing discovery.
4/6/2: Some Quranic verses contain some scientific indications that are proved by scientists now within the advancement of technology; some indications contain yet-to-be-discovered scientific facts. We have referred to this in our book titled "The West and the Scientific Miraculous Indications in the Holy Quran".
4/6/3: Let us exemplify this by the term (Barsakh) or the metaphysical realm; science and scientists now are approaching the threshold of the metaphysical realm in outer space.
4/6/3/1: The term Quranic term (Barsakh) has the physical meaning of the barrier that separates fresh water and salty water (when rivers move water to oceans/seas) as per these verses: "He merged the two seas, converging together. Between them is a barrier/Barsakh, which they do not overrun." (55:19-20); "And it is He who merged the two seas; this one fresh and sweet, and that one salty and bitter; and He placed between them a barrier, and an impassable barrier/Barsakh." (25:53).
4/6/3/2: The term Quranic term (Barsakh) has the metaphysical meaning of barriers among overlapping levels of existence on earth and in heavens; details of this topic are mentioned in our books, in English, titled "The Book of Death" (found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/book_main.php?main_id=120) & "Torment and Torture within a Quranist Vision" (found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/book_main.php?main_id=136). God says in the Quran: "Until, when death comes to one of them, he says, "My Lord, send me back.That I may do right in what I have neglected." By no means! It is just a word that he utters. And behind them is a barrier/Barsakh, until the Day they are resurrected." (23:99-100).
Thirdly:
1- It is impossible to imagine that Muhammad (and eloquent Arabs during his lifetime) understood or comprehend fully the Quranic indications of the Barsakh-levels of metaphysical realm mentioned here as linked to God's decrees or fates carried by angels: "He knows what penetrates into the earth, and what comes out of it, and what descends from the sky, and what ascends to it. He is the Merciful, the Forgiving." (34:2); "It is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then settled over the Throne. He knows what penetrates into the earth, and what comes out of it, and what descends from the sky, and what ascends to it. And He is with you wherever you may be. God is Seeing of everything you do." (57:4); "God is He Who created seven heavens, and their like of earth. The command descends through them, so that you may know that God is Capable of everything, and that God Encompasses everything in knowledge." (65:12).
2- Prophet Muhammad never knew the metaphysical aspect of the future events within the Quranic predictions that were fulfilled during his lifetime and after his death; he never knew about the realization or explanation of the scientific indications in some Quranic verses; Muhammad never knew about the stories of ancient prophets and their peoples (which are part of the metaphysical realm of the past and the invisible/unseen), as we infer from these verses: "These are some stories from the past that we reveal to you. Neither you, nor your people knew them before this. So be patient. The future belongs to the pious ones." (11:49); "This is news from the past that We reveal to you. You were not present with them when they plotted and agreed on a scheme." (12:102); "These are accounts from the Unseen, which We reveal to you. You were not with them when they cast their lots as to which of them would take charge of Mary; nor were you with them as they quarreled." (3:44); "You were not on the Western Side when We decreed the command to Moses, nor were you among the witnesses...Nor were you among the people of Madian, reciting Our Verses to them...Nor were you by the side of the Mount when We proclaimed. Rather, it was a mercy from your Lord, that you may warn people who received no warner before you, so that they may take heed." (28:44-46).
3- Hence, Muhammad never knew about the metaphysical realm of the future and of the past; besides, he made mistakes and some Quranic verses contain rebuke/reproach addressed to him; this means he was NOT the author of the Quran. It is hardly expected that a man would author a book in the 7th century A.D. while making it include rebuke/reproach of himself.
4- It is very important to remember that Muhammad's mission was confined to conveying the Quranic message; he never left oral/written ponderings about it to people who surrounded him; the Quran itself is the warner and it brings glad tidings; see 11:1-2 & 41:1-2.
Fourthly:
1- We have mentioned details of our personal experience and our lifetime story as an author and as a thinker in several of our books and articles; we repeat briefly some points here in relation to the topic of this article you are reading now.
2- When we submitted the manuscript of our PhD thesis in 1977 at Al-Azhar University, sheikhs/clergymen expressed their fury and ire against our person for the reformist ideas we have expressed based on our ponderings of the Quran as the Only Source of Islam. Their campaign against our person made us think: are all of them in the wrong side and we are the only one in the right side?
3- To answer this pivotal question, we had to prove our stance to go on within our intellectual project of religious reform or to submit to the Azharite sheikhs who were many years our senior in age.
4- We said to ourselves that we are a Quran-believing thinker and we believe in the Lord Allah; we quote the Quran all the time to prove our stance and ideas; hence, we must make sure that the Quran is really God's Word.
5- We posed this question to ourselves: How could we make sure that the Quran is really God's Word? If this is not proven, then its author was Muhammad Ibn Abdullah! How could this be proven if this were the truth?
6- We said to ourselves that in our PhD thesis, we have criticized the 'holy' books of 'holy' imams/authors by proving the fact that they contain countless contradictions; hence, the criterion to judge if the Quran is authored by Muhammad Ibn Abdullah or not is to find/discover contradictions in the Quran. All human beings make mistakes and fall into the trap of contradictions when they author their books.
7- We said to ourselves that we are more knowledgeable than Muhammad Ibn Abdullah who was an Arab man who lived in the 7th century A.D. Arabia in an area that contained no signs of great civilization; in contrast, we live in the 20th century (in the 1970s at the time) and we have large accumulation of scientific facts gathered to humanity within the 14centuries that followed the death of Muhammad. This means we have the tools and means to study and analyze the Quran to see if it contains any contradictions to prove that Muhammad might be its author; we know that Quranic stories are repeated within different and similar details and its sharia legislations have certain details which are overlapping with other topics. Hence, if the Quran would contain any contradictions due to absentmindedness, this will show that a mortal has authored it.
8- Hence, we have devoted one year (1977-1978) to analyze and study all of the Quranic verses thematically; i.e., Quranic stories, legislations, the Hereafter, among other themes/topics and their repeated details, within a cold, neutral scientific methodology of research adopted by us when we have studied and analyzed books of imams of the Abbasid and the Mameluke eras.
9- When we finished our research within the last month of 1978, we kneeled and prostrated to the Almighty Lord God to thank Him for guiding us to the fact that the Quran is God's Word and the Only Source of Islam and it contains no contradictions at all; we have also gathered huge material for other Quranist researches and studies of ours that appeared later on, as we studied similar and definitive verses; this made us read the Quran and approach it within a new angle, as if we read it for the first time; we have discovered the only method/way to study the Quranic verses and Quranist themes/terms/topics within examining terminology/themes in their local contexts of Quranic verses and larger context of the entire Quranic text; see our articles, in English, that exemplify this Quranist methodology: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=16303/ http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=16993
10- Thus, since 1978, we have begun to look at Azharite sheikhs/ignoramuses with scorn and contempt; we have realized how we should have been stronger and more vociferous in our struggle against them when they expressed their fury and ire against our person and our ideas hated by them; they were Quran-hating clergymen of Satan.
11- From 1977 until now, we consider ourselves as only on the shore/coastline or border of the Quranic knowledge; the more we research the Quranic text within a new topic at hand or in mind, the more we discover deeper knowledge unnoticed by us before; this is why we are surprised at the boldness of some persons who talk about the Quran and Quranic topics without being knowledgeable or guided enough.