Messenger Audio 38.2 (4-Feb-1983)

(0:09) Another thing, in fact, I'm too embarrassed to mention these things to the extent that I didn't mention it in the introduction that I should have, I probably will in the next edition. (0:20) This happens to be translation number 19 in English. This is the 19th translation. (0:27) A friend of mine sent the list of the translations from Beirut. He read it in Beirut where they have a list of all the English translations. (0:37) So this is another sign. There are so many signs that they had. God showered me with signs that this is an authorized, that God approves of this, and that you should not have any hesitation about it. (0:57) And time proves it day after day. I have a letter on my desk that came today from a prisoner who is practically illiterate. You can tell from the way he's writing the letter. (1:08) And he's telling me that he lost his Quran. Somebody stole his Quran from him. And then he's saying how he treasures it because it's easy to understand. (1:21) He had a Yusuf Ali translation, but it's very difficult. The archaic and classic English of Yusuf Ali, it's a very good translation, but the English does not make the Quran available to everybody. (1:38) And Islam, like any other religion, is first, when it comes to a new land, is first embraced by the oppressed and the poor. And these are the best people. They end up being the best people. (1:57) So this fellow is in prison, he's practically illiterate, but God made the Quran available to him through this translation. And this is just one example. If you want to see the letter, I have it on my desk. (2:09) So these letters, A, L, M, were our signs that this translation, it has the name of the Mark of Susa in the front, is the authorized English version of Quran. (2:26) You noticed Latifa's emotional phrase of my person, when she was talking about the translation. She's reacting to something that's been happening continuously. (2:42) When they argue with you, or discuss with you, the issue of Quran and Hadith, and God alone, and idol worship, they make a classic statement, that you're idolizing Rashad Khalifa. This is classic. (2:59) And the Lord of the Prophets wants you to go and beat him up, or go and shoot him or something. But this is a classic line that they always say. You are idolizing Rashad Khalifa, you are worshipping Rashad Khalifa, you are Rashadians, or whatever they want to say. (3:15) But I'm going to address this issue in detail insha'Allah in the futba next time. But I'm going to mention a rule of thumb, that will tell us exactly who is worshipping whom. I mean you can use this as a criterion for yourself, and for anybody else. (3:35) I want you to open surah 9, verse 31. I'm going to repeat this in my futba, okay? So if you promise not to fall asleep in my next futba, I'll let you see all these things. (3:46) Surah 9, verse 31. Top of page 129. Says they have taken their priests and rabbis as lords besides God, or gods besides God. As well as Christ, the son of Mary. They were commanded not to worship but the one God. There is no God except He. Much too glorious to have partners. (4:13) Now I want you to notice the first part of the verse. They have taken their priests and rabbis as lords besides God. This was revealed to Muhammad. And it applies to every congregation, every religion. They have taken their scholars, their imams, their priests, and their rabbis as gods besides God. (4:42) How? How did they do that? They were supposed to worship God alone. But how did they take their scholars, their imams, and their priests, and their rabbis as gods besides God? What is the criterion? And this is what I want you to never forget. (5:00) The criterion is, if the scholar or the priest or the rabbi or the scholar is saying something that is identical to what God says, then you are not worshipping, you are also worshipping God. (5:16) Because God says, you shall obey God, the messenger, and those in charge among you, or the imams among you, or the priests or the rabbis for this message. Among you, because it's you believers. Because they utter the same things that God is uttering. (5:34) However, if the imam or the priest or the rabbi or the scholar says something that is different from what God says, if you follow that, then you are worshipping this imam or this priest or this scholar or this rabbi. If he says something that is different from what God says. (5:55) A good example was last night. Brother Mujahid, blessed with heart, went to the MSA last night, and they were having a Quranic study. And in the middle of the Quranic study, he said, please brother, can I ask you a question? (6:14) And the brother said, go ahead. So he said, how come you pray the noon and the afternoon silently, when there is a commandment from God that you shall not pray silently? That you shall not pray loudly, too loud or too long, but seek an intermediate tone. (6:35) So they gave him a long speech about the hadith and the sunnah and the scholars. Now here is an example where the scholar said something different from what God said. And then you are given the freedom of choice. (6:49) You are going to choose the words of God or the words of the scholar or the imam. The imam is saying, pray the noon and the afternoon silently. And God says, do not pray silently. This is in surah 17, verse 110. Do not pray silently. You shall not pray silently. (7:09) Very clear commandment. Now, the person here makes a choice, is he going to worship God or worship the imam? Because here we have a difference, see. So the criterion is, if the imam or the priest or the rabbi or the scholar is saying something that is identical to what God said, then you are worshipping God, because God said that. (7:33) I mean, if the imam or the priest or the rabbi is saying, you shall worship God alone. If you don't obey that, what does it mean? It means you will not worship God alone. And therefore you go on to hell. (7:47) But you have to obey that, because he is saying something that is identical to what God said, and you are not worshipping the imam in that case. You are worshipping God, because he is uttering the words of God or commandments that are identical to what God commanded. (8:10) So, Mujahid asked them, he said, whose words do you follow? Do you follow the words of God or the words of somebody who said what the Prophet said? (8:26) So they told him, you don't have permission to speak. He said, uh oh, what is the problem here? (8:37) And they found out, obviously they had no reply to this. I mean, he is coming very strong with God's commandments on his side, and probably two thousand angels that they couldn't see. (8:52) You know what happened? I don't know if you can imagine it. We were going out to dinner, and we saw his friend's car. He couldn't start the car, because God didn't want him to go. And he asked us if we could take him there. (9:22) So, Mujahid said, we are here discussing Quran and religion, and I don't see why I need permission to speak. I mean, everybody was having a discussion here. (9:32) So they said, okay, the whole thing is over. And they finished everything and they got up and left. (9:42) So this is the criterion. Let's look up again at the top of page 129. (9:50) They have taken their priests and rabbis as Lord or God besides God. And this is what the Muslims did in unmasks by the media. (10:03) And they have taken their scholars and imams as God besides God. Because they said things that are different from what God said, and these people follow the scholars. (10:15) So they are worshipping. I mean, you follow the words of your God. You follow the words of the scholars, you are worshipping the scholars. (10:23) If you follow the words of the imams that are different from what God said, you are worshipping the imams. (10:27) But this is a classic line. (11:08) He said that he was his brother-in-law. And he was religious. (11:16) He was illiterate. He was in a foreign country, Singapore. (11:25) And the imams were telling him, one time in the future there will be a lot of problems. (11:33) And he was illiterate. (11:38) And then he decided how to deal with Hadith, and he wanted to be clear on the order of Hadith. (11:52) He made a big mistake. That was the first book of Hadith. (12:03) What he was trying to do, he thought, I'm going to sift out the things that don't make sense, that the prophets taught him. (12:11) And what he said in his book is, this is probably what the prophets said. (12:16) Yes, because you are trying to change it. (12:18) You know, all three things are wrong. (12:22) I'm trying to tell you that anything that the, whatever the Quran says, if the Hadith is corresponding to that, then there is something good for it. (12:38) But if it's something else, it goes far over. (12:42) He started, I want to mention a couple more things. (12:46) Going back, history books, you can always see the first Ottoman church, or the church before that. (12:55) They never, I never saw so far, reading all kinds of books, that they talk about Muhammad. (13:02) They talk about Allah, God, but nobody else. (13:08) You can see from the books that they believed in Allah strictly, but no, well, you know. (13:17) Of course, Hadith and Sunnah did get into Turkey, but I have to admit, it was minimal to Greece. (13:24) But the more, when you move east, it keeps increasing until you get to Pakistan, where you see the name of God and Muhammad both on everything. (13:34) On the buses, in the shops. (13:37) You need to say Allah Muhammad, Allah Muhammad, always. (13:41) It's almost like saying God is Muhammad. (13:45) Almost. (13:46) Respecting God. (13:49) Pakistan and India. (13:50) The same thing like in Christianity. (13:53) They're making Jesus like a second God or whatever. (13:59) So, this is where Latifo is coming from. (14:02) Because it's been, this has been their line that they have been using, but it is a classic, and we've been hearing it all the time. (14:12) However, it helps to distinguish, and maybe you are worshipping Jesus. (14:17) How do you know? (14:18) This is the criterion that you know. (14:22) In other words, if I say something that is different from what God said, are you going to listen to me or listen to God's word? (14:28) You can tell if you are worshipping God or worshipping me, by that criterion. (14:37) And, as you know, I wouldn't dare say anything is different from what God said. (14:42) He won't let me get away with it. (14:48) Yes. (14:53) Yes. (15:00) As long as it conforms with the Quran, and you accept it, then you are not worshipping me. (15:07) But if I say something that is different. (15:11) When I say something different, it is your duty to tell me this is God's. (15:17) Yes. (15:20) And that's what we do here. (15:21) When you look at God looking at me, I wouldn't dare say something wrong. (15:28) I wouldn't. (15:30) Thank God. (15:35) So this is the beginning of this Torah. (15:39) These are heavy. (15:39) A, L, F. (15:41) I will find that this translation is all right, and I wouldn't print it otherwise. (15:50) I was very demanding. (15:53) And thank God I was. (15:55) I saw so many signs. (15:56) Maybe someday I will write them down. (15:58) I mentioned a lot of them to a lot of you. (16:06) But, you know, it's an awesome responsibility. (16:09) Because if I write one sentence here that is wrong, and I mislead a hundred people, I would be responsible for that. (16:18) And if you don't know it, I'm the biggest chicken around here. (16:21) I don't want anybody else's sins, and I have enough of my own. (16:26) So I don't want to mislead anybody and carry anybody else's misguidance. (16:35) So the responsibility is awesome. (16:38) And without comparing with Moses or anything, if you remember, Moses was very reluctant. (16:44) And God said, I'm shooting you as my messenger. (16:47) I want you to go and deliver the message to Pharaoh. (16:49) And he said, oh, I don't know. (16:51) He didn't have to talk. (16:53) And God said, okay, I'm going to send this Aaron with you. (16:56) And he said, well, I committed murder in that country, and I'm afraid they will get me. (17:02) He was just making up all kinds of excuses. (17:05) So it's an awesome responsibility. (17:12) A, L, M. (17:14) I don't think we even comprehend the significance of these things. (17:22) The opposition is beginning to realize what the significance is. (17:29) And now there's a conspiracy of silence. (17:32) Use Jim Mahoney's expression. (17:35) Instead of attacking as they used to, now they are just completely silent. (17:41) It is going to overwhelm them. (17:43) It is going to overtake them, whether they like it or not. (17:47) Because this is God's miracle. (17:48) Not because I have anything to do with it. (17:50) In fact, I have nothing to do with it. (17:56) The new book. (17:57) You see the new book? (18:00) Everybody see the new book? (18:06) That new book is going to devastate them, absolutely. (18:09) Let me get it in fact. (18:13) We just have one copy here. (18:50) What this book is showing is a visual presentation of this miracle. (18:56) Where I had, for example, in this surah, A, L, M. (19:01) Well, I couldn't do it in this surah. (19:04) Because A, L, M are very frequent letters. (19:07) So I marked the letters with a star. (19:10) Not A, L, M, but all the other letters. (19:13) So they can see for themselves how many letters are there. (19:17) You can see the count. (19:20) The book before this, the computer speaks with all numbers. (19:24) And to be honest with you, I don't blame them for not believing the numbers. (19:29) Especially when they are skeptical and everything else. (19:35) But this here will force the issue on them. (19:38) What can they say? (19:39) There's nothing they can say. (19:41) The counts are there. (19:44) But I thought about the fellow from Algeria who wrote and said, (19:48) There are 56 queues in chapter few. (19:52) And how they repeated it and re-repeated it. (19:55) And had a group of people do it. (19:57) And every time they come up with 56. (19:59) And all I did was make a Xerox copy of that. (20:03) Sent it to them. (20:05) Never heard from them since. (20:10) Didn't even write and say, yeah, you're right. (20:17) Wa alaikum salam. (20:27) You were talking about this. (20:33) I was talking about the adventure last night at the MSA. (20:51) I was going to say, (20:53) Yeah, I was going to say, (20:58) I was going to say, (21:02) Grand, grand, grand, grand, grandchild was born. (21:06) That's killing. (21:07) That's killing. (21:32) After A-L-N, (21:35) I noticed the certificate of God among the one God. (21:40) Because all these numbers are based on the number 19, (21:45) which means God is one, right? (21:50) All these letters, without exception, (21:52) every single one of them, (21:55) are multiples of 19. (21:57) And 19 means God is one. (22:00) So 19 means one. (22:03) Wahid. (22:07) So, (22:09) in other words, God is providing the meaning of these letters. (22:17) We may be able to resume the Arabic language (22:20) tomorrow morning inshaAllah. (22:24) And we didn't get to the numbers, but we will. (22:28) Maybe tomorrow in the morning. (22:31) But the one, (22:33) the word one in Arabic is wahid. (22:38) And the four letters, (22:39) waw, alif, ha, dal. (22:42) waw, alif, ha, dal, wahid. (22:45) And when the Quran came down, there were no numbers. (22:49) The alphabet was used on numbers. (22:51) And wah was six. (22:54) Before they invented the numbers, (22:56) the letter wah was six. (22:58) The letter alif was one. (23:00) Six and one is seven, right? (23:03) The third letter ha was eight. (23:07) Wah, six, alif, one, ha is eight. (23:12) Wahid, so six and one is seven, and eight is fifteen. (23:16) Dal (23:18) was four. (23:20) Fifteen and four is nineteen. (23:22) So the word wahid is nineteen. (23:26) Nineteen means God is one. (23:28) So A-L-M (23:31) means God is one. (23:33) So that's the meaning of the first letter. (23:37) Something (23:39) nobody ever knew before this group. (23:42) I had three people here who were kind of, (23:45) three people that were intent about not using the name of Ali in our event. (23:52) They were, (23:56) I don't know what the occasion was, but (23:58) I think they wanted everybody to be experts in Arabic first, (24:02) in order to understand the Quran. (24:05) And they quoted to them surah 41, (24:07) verse 44, that says you do not need Arabic, (24:10) that if you are a believer, (24:12) the only requirement is to be a believer and God will put the Quran in your heart. (24:18) And just to demonstrate to them (24:22) that what God said is the truth, (24:25) some people happened to be sitting next to us and I told them (24:27) here is a Muslim that's relatively new (24:31) and you can ask her anything about Quran. (24:38) Just go ahead and ask her anything about Quran and see if the Quran is in her heart or not. (24:43) So they thought of the hardest, most difficult, most impossible question. (24:50) And they told Latifa, okay, tell us the meaning of K-H-Y-A-S at the beginning of surah 19. (24:57) And Latifa said, I thought you'll never ask. (25:04) They said, did you know there's a numerical code in Quran? (25:07) And this K-H-A-Y-S are part of the numerical code. (25:11) And Latifa said, mumble. (25:13) Numerical code? What numerical code? (25:16) I said, you mean you didn't hear about the numerical code? (25:20) Tell them Latifa, you know. (25:22) But they were really, that was a great demonstration for them. (25:27) They didn't argue after that. (25:30) And I think something good happened to them. (25:32) However, they disappeared, I don't know what was it. (25:35) But that may be a good sign. (25:41) So this is the privilege that God, God's grace that He showers on us, Alhamdulillah. (25:52) God is One, there's no God except He, the Living, the Eternal. (25:56) He reveals to you this scripture truthfully confirming Jesus' scripture. (26:02) Just as He reveals the Quran and the Gospel previously. (26:06) You see how the numbering of the verse comes in the middle of the statement? (26:10) This is a continuous sentence. (26:14) But the number of the verse came in the middle. (26:20) Indicating a deliberate numbering of the verses. (26:25) As you know, part of this code was that the first surah and the other revelation consists of 19 verses. (26:34) So that's a deliberate system. (26:38) If anybody played around with that, that fact would disappear. (26:43) But the first surah, read, consists of 19 verses. (26:51) And you will see it in this book. (26:54) This book should be here insha'Allah in a week or so, someday. (27:03) There's another book that's called Quran, Hadith, and Islam. (27:07) It will also cover the issue of Quran and Hadith. (27:11) And you will not be at loss, never again, when they discuss the Quran and Hadith with you. (27:18) However, we discovered that we had the blue line here in the office, and I met them this morning. (27:24) So insha'Allah they get them Monday. (27:26) They print the book on Monday or Tuesday. (27:29) And they will hold this book until the other book is also ready. (27:34) Then we will ship them both in the middle of the week, insha'Allah. (27:39) It's going to happen here. (27:40) So we'll have some good exercise, and we'll probably invest another national effort as we unload the books. (27:50) But that book will show you later that how the first surah and the other revelation consists of 19 verses. (27:58) And you'll see the copy of it. (28:03) So here it is, the surah and the gospel previously is a continuous sentence. (28:09) Because previously is a small, not a chapter. (28:12) To guide the people. (28:14) Here it is, the statute book. (28:18) Statute book meaning a book of laws. (28:21) Laws, these are God's laws. (28:25) We have to obey these laws. (28:28) If you want to have a perfect life, happy life.