Messenger Audio 17.2 (03-Dec-1982)

Gabriel gave instructions outside the Quran. The command to change the qibla was a test for the believers to see if they would obey the messenger.

(0:00) And so forth. (0:02) And among these instructions, one of the commandments to observe the prayers, Gabriel said, the prayer from now on should be towards Jerusalem. (0:15) Those directions are never part of the Qur'an, but they come with the Qur'an. (0:19) So Gabriel brings the Qur'an out of his heart, to his mouth, and then he gives him directions to go with every revelation. (0:27) And the directions, place the verse in the surah, gives the name of the surah, these are not part of the Qur'an. (0:33) And also, among the directions was that the prayer should be towards Jerusalem. (0:47) I don't know. (0:49) Does anybody know? (0:59) Mahmoud (1:00) But I would like to say something on the Qibla. (1:04) But before we go there, I want to point to what I was looking for. (1:09) Verse 151 of surah 2. (1:13) It's exactly the same language that you... (1:15) Now let's go back to 129, no? (1:19) In 129 it says, Abraham and Ismail prayed to Allah, our Lord, and raised among them, that is from our descendants, a messenger who would recite for them your revelations and teach them the scripture and wisdom, and sanctify them. (1:36) You are the Almighty, the One. (1:38) So from 129 we go to 151. (1:42) It's really, the Qur'an answers itself. (1:45) Such blessings are descending of a messenger from among you, to recite for you our revelations, and to sanctify you, and to teach you the scripture and wisdom. (1:57) And to teach you what you never knew. (2:00) So here is the answer, or Allah's action, or Allah's answer to the prayer there. (2:09) Word for word. (2:11) I want to mention something about this Qibla. (2:15) I have thought of this more than once. (2:19) And I want to relate this problem of the Qibla with a Qur'anic verse which says, I don't know if we have passed it, that Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian. (2:29) That's in surah 3. (2:30) Surah 3, alright. (2:32) The Jews captured Jerusalem during the time of David. (2:41) And David was the first one who built a very simple temple. (2:46) And after David's death, his son, Suleiman, made a better temple. (2:54) And this is the beginning of the Jewish religion. (2:58) Now we can see very carefully, that the Qur'an is always telling the Jews now, go back to the religion of Abraham. (3:08) It's simply the Jews have also, have abandoned or have gone astray, because they had these temples and all of these rituals. (3:18) And the Jewish religion began to alienate itself from the original teachings of Abraham. (3:26) So, when the Qur'an is telling us, Muslims, to go back to the Qur'an, and forget all of these traditions, like hadiths and extra prayers and all of these things, and unnecessary rituals and so on. (3:42) It is for no different reason, that the Qur'an is also telling the Jews, that you have gone way ahead of the religion of Abraham. (3:57) Now, the first temple dedicated to Allah, was the Kaaba. (4:04) And if you look at it chronologically, if it's during the time of Abraham, it must be so many generations before David, before he captured Jerusalem from the Jesuits. (4:19) And therefore, it is very logical now, why the Qur'an will have to tell people, the Muslims in particular, go back to the original one. (4:32) That the one of Jerusalem is simply an addition. (4:36) In other words, before Jerusalem was ever heard of, there was already a Qibla. (4:44) The Qibla that... (4:45) surah 3 says the first shrine (4:48) Yes, it's correct historically, chronologically. (4:53) And therefore, there is no reason anymore, why Muslims should go to another Qibla, rather than the original one. (4:59) Considering that Abraham is the founder of Islam. (5:03) So it's a very simple analysis. (5:04) I also would like to hear exactly why the command came to face Jerusalem. (5:13) It says in 144, I mean 143, It may only change the Qibla as a test, in order to distinguish those who would follow the Messenger, from those who would turn back on their heels. (5:34) So this was the purpose of temporarily making the Qibla towards Jerusalem. (5:41) What concerns us here is a commandment. (5:45) At the end of 144, it says, Wherever you may be, O believers, you shall turn your faces towards Mecca, and you will pray. (5:57) Even those who received the previous scripture recognize that this is the truth from the Lord, they recognize that Abraham built a shrine in Mecca. (6:04) God is never unaware of anything you do. (6:07) And now, 145 repeats the commandment to you and me. (6:10) However, even if you show the followers, there is a repetition of you shall turn your face towards ... (6:24) The repetition is within 144. (6:28) The commandment is repeated to Muhammad, and then to us, to all the believers. (6:33) So therefore, it is very important that we face the Qibla that is Mecca, in obedience to God. (6:44) And here in Tucson, we have a classic example of the Qibla, the right Qibla, the wrong Qibla, and what makes it right and what makes it wrong. (6:55) And also, we even have here a kind of inspiration, where God sets the believers on the right path, or in the right direction. (7:06) We had great debates. (7:09) Those debates are very quiet now, about the Qibla. (7:12) If you go to the Islamic Center, or to Masjid Muhammad, you notice they are facing northeast. (7:21) Now, the lines, the latitude lines, now they face this direction, not the direction we face. (7:31) If you look on the map, now their excuse is that they have taken the shortest line to Mecca. (7:44) Because this is how the planes go. (7:46) The planes go northeast to fly over the north pole, and go to Mecca. (7:52) Now this is, in my opinion, is a smart-alecky way of saying this is the shortest distance, because we are now civilized, we realize that the earth is round, and that the shortest distance is across the north pole. (8:06) The shortest distance to Mecca. (8:08) Now what they forget is a few things, not just one thing. (8:15) That the shortest distance to Mecca is actually through the earth. (8:20) And that the soul does not stop by the wall. (8:23) The soul goes through the wall, or the ceiling. (8:28) The souls don't recognize material, as it goes through the earth. (8:32) So the shortest distance to Mecca is a straight line from Tucson, which will be straight east. (8:40) That's the shortest distance, but they don't know that. (8:43) Also, they ignore the fact that God treats the globe as a rectangle. (8:51) You notice all the vegetation, the equatorial vegetation, is all in a strip around the equator. (9:02) If you go to the, what's that line of tropic called? (9:08) The Tropic of Cancer. (9:11) The Tropic of Cancer, because the vegetation around it is like a rectangle. (9:17) The sun rises on the earth, and treats it like a strip, like a rectangle. (9:24) So if you open the globe, make it like a rectangle, and draw the lines on it, you notice that Mecca is slightly south of east, compared to Tucson. (9:33) Slightly south of east, which is exactly the way this building is oriented. (9:39) And exactly how all the houses in Tucson, almost all of them are oriented, because the streets go north, south, and east, west. (9:49) So it doesn't matter where you are, you'll find the wall that is already oriented toward the right building. (9:54) So we had this big debate going. (9:58) And I think at Jummah I went to the geography department at the university, and asked what would be the right direction from Tucson to Mecca, and they gave us our direction. (10:08) But more important, Tariq Azabi was here, and he saw a dream. (10:18) He was living here in this mosque, back there. (10:22) And right in the midst of the debate, he saw in a dream that our group, the whole group that was in the mosque at the time, was in Mecca. (10:31) And we were praying in Mecca, with the Kaaba visible. (10:35) And we were facing the Kaaba, while everybody else was facing the wrong direction. (10:41) And we were looking at the Kaaba, so on. (10:43) This is the kind of inspiration that God sends to direct people on this path. (10:49) But aside from this, the shortest distance to Mecca is right through the Earth.