We all know that (according to Quran) GOD’s system throughout history is essentially unchangeable. The message of worshiping GOD alone has always been same and those who set up idols (statues, people, their egos, other gods, etc.) are out of GOD’s grace. I’m sure we can all agree on this.
The Quran speaks often about the children of Israel disregarding GOD’s commandments in the Torah. These examples are given to us so that we may learn from previous generations. The children of Israel were given so many miracles, yet they still worshiped a golden calf besides GOD. It goes to show that if people are insincere, it does not matter how many proofs they are shown, they are veiled, they are blinded. The fact that they can disbelieve after watching the Red Sea parting shows a universal weakness of humankind. It shows that we do not like to submit to our Creator’s decrees. It shows how egotistical the human is by nature. It is no wonder we are commanded to kill our egos in the Quran.
[Quran 2:54] Recall that Moses said to his people, “O my people, you have wronged your souls by worshiping the calf. You must repent to your Creator. You shall kill your egos. This is better for you in the sight of your Creator.” He did redeem you. He is the Redeemer, Most Merciful. We know the message is the same. So where did the Jews go wrong? The Torah explains this best when Moses spoke to the Israelites.
[Deuteronomy 4:1] Israel, listen to the RULES AND LAWS I’M GOING TO TEACH YOU. FOLLOW THEM…
[Deuteronomy 4:2] DO NOT ADD to what I’m commanding you. DO NOT SUBTRACT FROM IT EITHER. Instead, OBEY THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD your GOD that I am giving you.
Many years later, the Jewish scholars (rabbis) began collecting oral traditions (practices and sayings) falsely attributed to Moses through ‘hearsay’. These books are called the Jewish Mishnah. Then, Rabbis’ added their expert commentaries. This is called the ‘Gemarrah’. Together these books make up the Jewish Talmud. The Talmud takes precedence over the Torah (God’s revelations) for religious guidance and rules. The scholars justified using the Talmud for the following reasons:
“…without the Talmud, we would NOT BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND passages in the Hebrew Bible” Rabbi Yehiel ben Joseph
" …anyone who does not study the Talmud CANNOT understand Scripture." Rabbi Yehiel ben Joseph
It is these books (mishnah & Gemarrah or the Talmud) that caused the children of Israel to reject Jesus, the Messiah. For example, look what happened when the Jewish Scholars questioned Jesus why his disciples DID NOT follow the ORAL TRADITIONS of the Talmud (actions & sayings falsely attributed to Moses). [Bible…..Mark 7:6-13] Jesus replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship GOD in vain; their **TEACHINGS ARE MERELY HUMAN RULES. **You have let go of the COMMANDS OF GOD and are HOLDING ON TO HUMAN TRADITIONS." And he continued, "You have a fine way of setting aside the COMMANDS OF GODOBSERVE YOUR OWN TRADITIONS! in order to Thus you nullify the word of GOD BY YOUR TRADITION that you have HANDED DOWN.
Now, we all know what they did to Jesus. They rejected the him for commanding them to worship GOD alone by upholding GOD’s revelations only and rejecting all other sources of guidance.
Then, 325 years later at the conference of Nicence, the Christian scholars invented the Trinity doctrine that officially deified Jesus. Something never preached by him. In fact, the Bible shows very clearly that Jesus is not GOD, but they chose to uphold the Trinity. Thus, the Christians did the same thing as the children of Israel. They followed ‘other’ sources of religious guidance. The Quran even says this happened. Although, try telling a Jewish or Christian they are following fabrications and they will get very angry.[Quran 9:31] They have set up their religious leaders and scholars as lords,* instead of GOD. Others deified the Messiah, son of Mary. They were all commanded to worship only one god. There is no god except He. Be He glorified, high above having any partners.
When Muhammad was given the Quran, the Jews and Christians rejected him and the Quran because they did not want to abandon their traditions. It gave them too much power in the worldly life. Knowing what happened with the Jews and Christians, what does the Quran say?
[Quran 6:38] ...We** did not leave anything out of this book.**..
[Quran 18:27] You shall recite what is revealed to you of YOUR LORD’s SCRIPTURE. NOTHING SHALL ABROGATE HIS WORDS, and you SHALL NOT FIND ANY OTHER SOURCE BESIDE IT.
It is clear what muslims are supposed to follow. It was the same for the Christians and Jews and they created new doctrines by scholars based on rumours. Approximately, 200 years after Muhammad’s death, Islamic scholars began collecting oral traditions (sayings and actions) that are said to be from Muhammad. These books are called ‘Hadith and Sunnah’ of Prophet Muhammad.
[6:112] We have permitted the enemies of every prophet - human and jinn devils - to inspire in each other fancy words, in order to deceive. Had your Lord willed, they would not have done it. You shall disregard them and their fabrications.
[6:113] This is to let the minds of those who do not believe in the Hereafter listen to such fabrications, and accept them, and thus expose their real convictions.*
[6:114] Shall I seek other than GOD as a source of law, when He has revealed to you this book fully detailed? Those who received the scripture recognize that it has been revealed from your Lord, truthfully. You shall not harbor any doubt.
[6:115] The word of your Lord is complete,* in truth and justice. Nothing shall abrogate His words. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient.
[6:116] If you obey the majority of people on earth, they will divert you from the path of GOD. They follow only conjecture; they only guess.
[Quran 45:6] These are GOD’s revelations that we recite to you truthfully. In which HADITH other than GOD and His revelations do they believe?
[45:7] Woe to every FABRICATOR, GUILTY.
In Hebrew, these books could be called ‘Mishnah and Gemarrah of Prophet Muhammad’. The Islamic equivalent of the Talmud. They did the exact same thing as the Jews. Now we can appreciate even more why the Quran talks so much about the children of Israel’s disregard of God’s revelations and commandments.
Many islamic scholars believe they need hadith and sunnah because they have to obey the prophet. Yes, but obeying the prophet is obeying GOD’s revelations.
[Quran 69:43-46] A revelation from the Lord of the universe. HAD HE UTTERED ANY OTHER TEACHINGS we would have PUNISHED HIM. We would have STOPPED THE REVELATIONS to him.
Ironically, even their Hadiths forbid Hadith.
The Prophet said, “DO NOT write down anything from me EXCEPT THE QURAN.” [Ahmed, Vol. 1, Page 171, and Sahih Muslim]
This Hadith states that the Prophet maintained his ANTI-HADITH STAND UNTIL DEATH. [Ahmed, Vol. 1, Page 192]
In fact, on the Day of Judgment, Muhammad will say… [Quran 25:30] …"My Lord, MY PEOPLE HAVE DESERTED THIS QURAN****.
They even try to justify the ‘Sunnah’ by claiming it is the only way Muslims know how to perform the daily contact (salat) prayers. Even though, their Sunnah books does not show to do it correctly. All it says is that Muhammad corrected somebody, but never says what he corrected. If they looked in the Quran they would realize ALL RELIGIOUS PRACTICES came through Abraham, NOT Muhammad.
[Quran 16:123] Then we inspired you (Muhammad) TO FOLLOW THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM, the monotheist; he never was an idol worshiper.
[Quran 21:72-73] And we granted him Isaac and Jacob as a gift, and we made them both righteous. We made them imams who guided in accordance with our commandments, and we taught them how to work righteousness, and HOW TO OBSERVE THE CONTACT PRAYERS (Salat)
In other words, the contact prayers (Salat) were well established before Muhammad. In fact, this is further confirmed by the fact that Sura 1 (al-fateha) which is needed to do salat, was the fifth revelation, and in the 3rd revelation (sura 73), verse 20 muslims are told to “observe the contact prayers (Salat)”. This reaffirms the fact that salat prayers were already in practice before the Quran was revealed. However, many muslims who follow the Islamic Talmud (hadith & sunnah) reject this information the same way the Jews rejected the Torah, and the Christians the Bible.
*(God addressing Muhammad) *
[Quran 17:73-77] They almost diverted you from the revelations we have given you. They wanted you to fabricate something else, in order to consider you a friend. If it were not that we strengthened you, you almost leaned towards them just a little bit. Had you done that, we would have doubled the retribution for you in this life, and after death, and you would have found no one to help you against us. They almost banished you from the land to get rid of you, so they could revert as soon as you left. This has been consistently the case with all the messengers that we sent before you, and you will find that our system never changes.
So, if following the ‘words of men’ is forbidden for Jews and Christians. Then, it is forbidden for Muslims because GOD’s law is unchangeable.
Most muslims reject what the Quran says or any argument like the above because the common belief by most muslims is that no human can understand the Quran. Thus, turn to human rumours collected by humans falesly attributed to Prophet Muhammad in order to understand the Quran. This is EXACTLY what the children of Israel did with the Jewish Talmud *(hadith & Sunnah of Moses & scholars)*. Again, if the Quran was studied they would learn that GOD is the teacher of the Quran (55:1-2) and that…
[54:17] We made the Quran easy to learn. Does any of you wish to learn?
[54:22] We made the Quran easy to learn. Does any of you wish to learn?
[54:32] We made the Quran easy to learn. Does any of you wish to learn?
[54:40] We made the Quran easy to learn. Does any of you wish to learn?
The question really comes down to this…**who do you trust? ****GOD and HIS proven revelations **or **fabricated rumors **falsely attributed to Muhammad 200 years after he died? If your religious focus is GOD alone, the choice will naturally be GOD’s words, if your religious focus is Muhammad, you choice will be the words of the prophet’s enemies (Hadith & Sunnah). GOD willing, you will be guided to see the truth of this.
Here are some videos to help you see the truth of the Quran.
http://vimeo.com/channels/god
(I cannot post links yet, so you’ll have to copy and paste it into your browser)
Peace
submitmj
