Hello Rashadi,
First, thank you for the information. You're right, so far I've seen the contratradictions in the other religions. Ex. From my understanding - the man who founded Jehovah Witnesses ( no disrespect intended) predicted the end of the world only to find out that the world carried on after his prediction. Sorry, can you help me to understand one more thing? Miracles. I am not exactly sure what were the criterion set for Prophets but, I do believe that preforming miracles was essential. Now, I understand that the Quaran in its self a Miracle but, it's not clicking in my head. How can this definition of miracle be set apart from someone putting a twist on the term 'Miracle'? Again, I want to make it clear that no disrespect is intended. And, in fact I'm trying my best to ask questions that constantly pick at me without saying anything negative towards your Prophet.
Oh yes, everynight I ask God to lead me down the right path.
Thanks for taking the time.
No problem and good points you brought up about miracles. The prophets of God were supported with miracles or signs so that their people would see the proof. For example, during the time of Moses(Pbuh), sorcery and this sort of stuff was very popular among the people in Egypt. God supported Moses with miracles such as his stick turning into a snake and more. The sorcerers who were gathered by Pharaoh recognized that the miracles performed by Moses(pbuh) were real and from God while theirs were just tricks before the eyes of the people. The sorcerers acknowledged Moses as a true prophet from God and they testified that his God was the only one and true. Of course Pharaoh became angry and chased after them; I am sure you know the rest of the story, lol. The same thing with other prophets such as Solomon who could understand the speech of animals and other things.
In the time of Jesus Christ(pbuh), the people were fascinated with healing and that sort of stuff. Jesus was given the ability to perform amazing miracles such as cure illnesses, raise the dead, etc. These miracles were signs given by God and it was by God's permission that they were able to do these things so that people would have assurances. As for Muhammad(pbuh), the skill and pride of the Arabs was poetry and their language was it its peak. The Pagan Arabs took great pride in their poetry, they use to hang them up inside the Kaaba and even make money during competition. The Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) piece by piece over a period of approximately 23 years. The Quran, although is not a book of poetry, put the proud Arabs to shame. It challenged them to produce a chapter like it and they were unable. They gathered all their bests poets and they all were fascinated and could not explain it or defeat it. They began making assumptions like he is a skilled sorcerer but they knew him well and knew that he was no poet.
They thought that a demon had taken control over him but they realized that was not the case either. Nevertheless, all the great miracles that the prophets performed were amazing but were not there to witness them but we can only imagine how nice they were. The biggest miracle given to Muhammad(pbuh) is the Quran and it is still with us. What makes the Quran a miracle? First, as I said above, it it is not a book of poetry yet it is the most beautiful book in the Arabic language. Its style, rimes, elequense, and unmatched verses makes it special. The Quran is in Arabic and it has not changed since day one. Today there are millions of Muslims of all ages who have memorized the entire Quran in the original language. This tradition goes back to the time of the Prophet himself and it has been passed on from generation to generation until this day. It has gone for 1,400 years without change, deletions, additions or corruptions. If one were to get rid of all the Qurans, Muslims would bring it back the same day without a word missing.
Of course a translation is not the actual Quran but I am referring to the original which is still here and preserved. God Himself promised to preserve it and it has passed the test so far. The Quran also makes references to scientific facts which only recently were discovered, yet it is not a science book. There are no different versions of the Quran but all Muslims read the same Quran and every Muslim has some portions of the Quran memorized because we recite them daily during our 5 daily prayers. Besides that, as I already stated above it is memorized in totality by millions of Muslims of all ethnic groups and young and old, male and female. In my own opinion, this is my favorite miracle about it because it can never be lost. When the author of the Quran challenges mankind to produce a scripture like it, it means a book like it. A book that is unique and special like the Quran. something the best poets can't match, a scripture that will never be corrupt and will be memorized by millions. A scripture which will give guidance, be free of errors and contradictions and over a billion people will live their life around the text of this scripture.
Another amazing thing I have discovered about this book is the way the author recounts an incident. The Quran hardly even gives too much detail or take up space with irrelevant issues but it gives important information which we can take, verify and get a decent idea of what went wrong. I find this unique and interesting how it won't go into much detail yet at the same time give important information. It is also interesting that even harsh critics of Islam such as Sir William Muir, and others have admitted and testified to the authenticity of the Quran and how it has remained uncorrupted. They may not like it or want to accept it as the word of God but they at least are honest enough to admit and verify the fact that to this day the Quran is unchanged and preserved. The Quran is not only a written script but it is also oral and it is the most recited/read book. According to Will Durant, another non-Muslim historian, the Quran is the most influential book ever on the face of the earth which is written by one man. Of course we don't believe it was written or made by Muhammad(pbuh) but these are his statements.
The Quran is a direct revelation/dictation from God to the prophet through the agency of the angel Gabriel. There was one western scholar I can't remember his name, but he stated that "if Muhammad authored the Quran and did the things that others accuse him of, he would have to have been the greatest genius that ever lived". It is a well known fact that Muhammad(saaws) could not read nor write and the way the Quran is matchless also proves that it couldn't be the work of another person. If it were the works of many people, there would have been errors, contradictions and it would have been a big mess yet we see consistency in it and free of it. Over the centuries many books have been written against the Quran and believe it or not, I read many of them and not one of them actually proves anything. There was one book I read which was kind of huge and all the author could say was "Muhammad must have" "likely" "possibly" etc. There was nothing concrete or for a fact. It was all assumption and and no proof.
Before I end, I wanted to come back to the point of miracles. Today there are people and ministers on tv who claim to be performing miracles and even claim to be leaders or prophets but don't fall for it. They are tricks and scandals. Before I embraced Islam, the last church I went to was a United Pentecostal Church. The funny thing was my best friend always bragged about miracles supposedly his pastor could perform but I never saw him do anything when I was there except scream, dance, sing, fall and do funny stuff. After I stopped going to the church, I happened to find out he was caught in a financial scandal. He had his own church burned in order to get insurance money and they got over 500,000 dollars but he didn't even purchase a new church with it. A lot of these actors pretent to be doing miracles and even if they appear so it is bogus. Another one was Jim Jones of Peoples Temple. He supposedly healed people and performed miracles yet his entire cult(over 900 people) ended up committing suicide and drank poison.
I hope I was able to help in anyway InshaAllah(God willing) and sorry if I wrote too much. No offense taken by any of your questions, feel free to ask if you have more and I am sure there are others that can assist you as well. Take care and may God guide us all ameen.
