Messenger Audio 46 (11-Mar-1983)

Sermon - Extended version of Adhan. Not Rashad giving sermon.

(0:00) Allah is the Greatest. (0:08) I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. (0:16) I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. (0:26) Come to prayer. Come to prayer. (0:36) Come to prayer. Come to prayer. (0:47) Allah is the Greatest. Allah is the Greatest. (0:54) There is none worthy of worship except Allah. (1:05) Peace and blessings of Allah be upon you. (1:08) In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. (1:10) Alhamdulillahi Rabbihim wa nabihim wa a'la ilayhi wa sallam. (1:13) As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. (1:17) As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. (1:23) The subject of the khutbah today is centered on one word used in the Qur'an. (1:33) The word, this is al-Injil, but just Injil. (1:42) This is presented to you with modesty, taking for what it is, or you get something out of it. (1:53) Alhamdulillah. (1:55) You think an old word, but you know why, and you know an alternative. (2:02) True, alhamdulillah. (2:05) But actually, many of these ideas are not mine. (2:07) They just come from my studies in theology, years ago. (2:12) And I'm depending a lot on my memory, which is not so good anymore. (2:16) It's good to forget many things, too. (2:20) But the conclusion, certainly, is mine, and it's offered to you for your consideration. (2:29) The word Injil in the Qur'an occurs at least 12 times. (2:35) I'm not sure of this number, but at least, maybe slightly more. (2:45) It is used in various senses and in various contexts. (2:51) For example, in at least four verses, it is directly connected with Jesus Christ, Esau, the married. (3:08) And I will read to you some of these verses. (3:12) I'm using the translation of Ustadh Tariqa. (3:17) First verse. (3:19) God endowed him, referring to Esau, with scripture, wisdom, the Torah, and the Gospel. (3:32) The word Gospel is a translation of the word Al-Injil. (3:40) Second, I quote again. (3:43) This is Surah 3, verse 48. (3:48) Now we go to Surah 5, verse 46. (3:54) Subsequent to them, that is, other prophets, we sent Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming the previously revealed Torah. (4:05) We gave him the Gospel, Al-Injil, containing guidance and light, and confirming the Torah, as well as providing guidance and enlightenment for the righteous. (4:20) Surah 5, verse 46. (4:23) And one more. (4:27) Subsequent to them, that is, Noah, Ibrahim, and some of the descendants, Allah says, subsequent to them, we sent other messengers. (4:38) Then, we sent Jesus, the son of Mary. (4:41) We gave him the Gospel, the Injil. (4:46) And we placed in the hearts of his followers, kindness and mercy. (4:53) Now there are about four or five of these. (4:56) Where Allah says, He gave Esau the Injil. (5:03) Now, I pray for all of you, we need a little attention and concentration on this, to avoid misunderstanding. (5:14) Four or five times, Allah says, that we, or I, have given Jesus, son of Mary, the Injil. (5:28) And this is what we are going to do this afternoon, to concentrate on the meaning of Injil. (5:34) But I want you now, there are other verses in the Quran, which uses the word Injil in a slightly different sense. (5:45) I'll give you two. (5:49) In Surah 5, verse 47, Allah speaks of the people of the Gospel. (5:58) That's something else, right? (6:00) The people of the Gospel. (6:04) This is referred, therefore, to the followers of Christ, or to the Christians. (6:11) Also, in Surah 7, verse 157, there is a suggestion of something being written in the Torah and in the Gospel. (6:24) So, this is what I'm begging all of you. (6:27) While I am talking all the time of the four original verses, or initial verses, or something given to Isa, (6:37) let us have in mind that the Quran speaks of a written Gospel, and also of people following the Gospel. (6:46) But for our present purposes, we are only going to concentrate on those four or five verses, (6:51) which says that Allah gave the Injil to Jesus. (6:59) All right. (7:04) You can see immediately, the Quran comes in the 6th century, or later, or every part of the 7th century, all right? (7:18) The Quran has come historically, and the Christians were around for more than 500 years. (7:31) About 300 years, I don't remember now the exact date. (7:38) About 300 years before the birth of Isa, there was a very big colony of Jews in Alexandria, in Egypt. (7:53) They were all, what you call, members of the Hellenistic civilization. (8:04) And they had forgotten Hebrew. (8:08) And because they had forgotten Hebrew, and they wanted to know their scripture, (8:14) it was necessary to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek. (8:21) That is the famous, or the so-called, Septuagint, which you've heard. (8:26) The Septuagint, the word Septuagint, Septuagint, 17, because according to tradition, (8:32) there were 70 learned men, lawyers, who were able to translate it into Greek. (8:41) Because the Jews had forgotten Hebrew, they knew Greek, and Egypt had become part of the Greek Empire later on under the Ptolemies. (8:53) Everybody was speaking Greek. (8:57) A word was already used in the Septuagint, at least 200 years before that. (9:04) And this is the word, OU ANGELION, OU ANGELION, that's a Greek word. (9:11) This is classical Greek. (9:15) The word OU means good, right? Nothing else. (9:21) And ANGELION comes from ANGELIN, means to bring news. (9:29) Therefore, OU ANGELION in Greek means, to bring good news. (9:39) And when the Prophet Isaiah was saying, we're waiting for the good news, (9:46) and you know, in front of the Prophet Isaiah, the word was already this word. (9:53) So you can see it's a very old word in classical Greek. (10:02) Also found in common Greek, called the Koine. Koine is the Greek for Islam. (10:09) You can see the roots, alright? (10:18) ANGEL, alright? (10:20) You can see it also in Arabic, right? (10:23) The three roots, N-J-L. (10:29) In the Arabs, I mean, classical Arabic, has no G, only has J. (10:35) And if you're a good Egyptian, then you'll always say, instead of Yajaman, Yagaman. (10:41) But that's Egyptian. G is Egyptian. Arabic has no G. (10:46) It uses J for Kheim. (10:49) Is it right, Arabs? (10:52) We need Arab authorities, unfortunately. (10:58) So, then, as most of you know, (11:04) Saint Jerome, after another couple of hundred years after Christ, (11:15) translated the Greek Bible, the Septuagint, into Latin. (11:24) Because this was now just the time of the Roman Empire. (11:27) And that is called the Latin Vulgate. Vulgate means common, the vulgar edition. (11:36) And the word used is this one, Evangelium. (11:42) As you see, it's the same, alright? (11:46) OK. (11:49) Let us, when the books of the New Testament, we have to discuss this later on, (11:58) when the books of the New Testament were later on translated into English, (12:11) then there were two words used for good news or for good tidings. (12:21) Evangel, which is found in any dictionary. This is a good English word. Evangel. (12:28) And the one who writes or pushes the evangel is called an evangelist, right? (12:36) And all the Roman languages, like Romanian, Italian, and Spanish, (12:42) up to now use the word evangel, or in Spanish, evangel. (12:49) And one who writes is called evangelista. (12:53) But for some reason or another, the English people did not just use this word, (13:03) a good English word, only derived from the Greek through the Latin, (13:09) they used the word gospel. (13:12) Now, the word gospel is a very good English word based on Anglo-Saxon. (13:20) It is God spelled. Not God, huh? (13:25) God in the sense of good, like in Dutch. (13:29) G-O-E-D, good, is not God, it means good. (13:33) So, good spelled, good spelled means good news. (13:40) And then they defined it, it became gospel. (13:44) So, I'm sorry that I've taken so much of your time to explain to you the meaning of the word gospel. (13:50) It means the same as evangel, and it is the same as, this one comes from the word, this word, this word. (13:58) So, all of this means good news, blood, tidings, and so on. (14:07) Now, let's go deeper in the subject matter. (14:21) After the death of Jesus Christ, there were many stories about his life. (14:30) His life, his work, his death, and his teachings. (14:42) And, about 30, 40, 50, 60, 100 years after his death, there were many stories about him, alright? (14:57) They were not called gospels. (15:00) They were called memoirs, stories by the apostles. (15:07) But because they spoke of a good news, they came to be called gospels. (15:20) And, there is the so-called gospel according to Matthew. (15:27) Because, when this gospel of Saint Matthew existed, people did not call it gospel of Saint Matthew. (15:35) They said, that is the narrative which we believe is from Matthew. (15:41) Then you have Mark, Luke, and John. (15:44) These are the so-called gospels, four gospels. (15:49) The first three, as you know, is just a reminder for some of you who have a good Christian background, a reminder. (15:56) These three are called the synoptic gospels. (15:59) They are called synoptic because they talk about the life of Jesus from birth to death. (16:09) And, they are very similar. (16:11) That one of John is something else. It has more theology. (16:16) What is interesting are the discussions of the different biblical scholars. (16:22) There are many theories about it. (16:24) I don't want to go deep into it because it is slightly out of our subject. (16:28) But, let me just say that in the old days, people used to put Matthew as number one because they thought it was the model. (16:36) Some now say it is Mark. (16:38) They found out that 70% of Matthew is taken from Mark and 70% of Luke comes from Mark and so on. (16:45) There are many theories. (16:47) But, now it is already accepted that Mark is the oldest. (16:51) Now, whether Mark was based on an earlier one and that earlier one got lost is something else. (16:56) Or, that there was an earlier one from which these three come from, that is another theory. (17:00) It is a very interesting theory. (17:03) Anyhow, it does not bother us that this is the correct theory. (17:06) All that is important for us to know now is that the earliest manuscripts of this form that we have today are all written in Greek with many Aramaic words. (17:21) But, sometimes the Aramaic word or Hebrew word is explained. (17:24) Therefore, it is very clear. (17:26) These were written for people who were Greek speakers. (17:32) Somebody says that there was an original Hebrew gospel which these three imitated and that is God. (17:40) Anyhow, again, we should not worry about that. (17:44) They are all in the earliest manuscripts are in Greek but with many Aramaic words and Hebrew words. (17:51) So, it is assumed that the leader knows Greek and he is familiar with Jewish customs and so on. (17:59) But, as you know, during this time there were also other gospels. (18:03) Now, many of these stories in the Quran that Jesus Christ as a little boy knew what was eaten by his friends, this is found in one of these. (18:12) I forgot, but I remember it. (18:14) Then, about the miracles of the birds, clay, and the carbon, this is found here. (18:19) There is what you call the gospel of the first infancy. (18:23) The second gospel of infancy is the gospel of Nicomedus. (18:28) And lately, I think in our lifetimes, they have discovered in Egypt the gospel of Saint Thomas. (18:36) Now, the importance of this gospel of Saint Thomas is that it has the sayings of Jesus Christ. (18:46) Some found in these gospels and some not found. (18:50) And many people say that that is the essential message of Jesus Christ, which thanks to the ancient Egyptians were able to be collected together. (19:00) People are still going deep into this. (19:03) But as time went on, by 100 years after Christ, this became, what you call this, canonical, accepted as good. (19:14) And then this became forgotten. (19:18) This was authoritative for many years. (19:20) But people say, no, not so good as this. (19:23) It was forgotten, it became told, they became told, apocrypha. (19:28) As you know the word apocrypha means hidden. (19:31) Not hidden, the people hid it, but hidden in the libraries, hidden in the archives, hidden from the sight of men because they just forget about it. (19:38) So, these ones are not considered canonical or accepted among the Protestants, Greek Orthodox, and the Catholics. (19:49) But all of these 27 are considered canonical and they are the ones that are being considered. (19:56) Okay, the question now is this. (20:02) What does the word injeel mean as used in the Quran? (20:05) In the Quran, it is as you can see, a word that is Arabized. (20:13) Not only has it become Arabized, but it even has a very good Arabic plural. (20:24) But, Quran is inheritor of the thinking of the past too. (20:31) And all the scholars say this injeel of more than 600 centuries is based on a word that is hundreds and hundreds of years old. (20:43) Although, there are some people, and I feel that it is fair to mention you, say no, because they are very rigid Arabs. (20:53) They say injeel comes from najalah. (20:57) The word Arabic najalah means to throw at something, to dig, to open a wound, to cross, to open a tissue. (21:06) And I think the meaning of spade also and injeel, something like Arabic. (21:16) In one of these spades, but it seems that these words, the root najalah, from old Arabic, is something else. (21:28) I think it is generally conceded that when Quran speaks of injeel, it is talking to people who are Christians. (21:38) They understand what the word means. (21:41) Naturally, at that time, there will be people who already know Latin and Greek. (21:49) It will become part of the Greco-Roman Empire. (21:52) The word gospel does not come here and may be dangerous for some. (22:00) It is a good news report based on the Anglo-Saxon. (22:07) Incidentally, the Christians in Syria, I don't know about the Christians in Egypt because I don't know them well enough, (22:13) but in Syria, they use the word good news, but they don't use the Greek word or the Latin word, although they use it sometimes. (22:29) I know that the Christians use the word injeel, but when they want to use the typical Arabic word, they use bashirun. (22:36) Bashirun means also good news. (22:40) And tabshir means to preach, or tabshiri is one who preaches the good news. (22:46) This is found in Syria, I don't know about Egypt. (22:49) Also, bashirun means good news, and to preach the good news is tabshirun. (22:58) Anyhow, but I know that the Protestants in Syria don't want to use the word bashirun, because bashirun is a good Arabic word. (23:09) And you know, bashir means one who preaches the good news, and I think for historical purposes, etc. (23:15) Now, the question is this. (23:18) What does the word injeel mean in the first four or five verses that I quoted initially? (23:24) I think, you don't have to accept this, but just think about it. (23:31) That when the Quran says that God had given Isa the injeel, it only means to mean this. (23:41) He gave Isa a message, that's why Isa is a messenger. (23:47) He could not have given Isa a book. (23:51) You don't give a person a book where your birth is described, and when you're dying, it's described, right? (23:58) How can you give a book to someone, telling him that he died on the cross, etc.? (24:04) This is common sense to me. I don't think twice about it. (24:08) You cannot give a person a book which describes his death. (24:17) But you can give him a message, which later on was written in a book, okay? (24:25) I don't know if this is acceptable to you. (24:33) Because, if we look at these four Gospels, it describes the birth, the life, the war, the death. (24:44) But it also includes messages. (24:47) A beautiful one, as you all know, is the Sermon on the Mount. (24:54) I do not deny that there is a message in this written book. (25:00) I'm only saying that this is one meaning of the word injeel, and this is another meaning of the word injeel. (25:09) If you don't want to accept my thinking on the matter, let me quote a certain person by the name of Oskar Kuhlman. (25:22) Oskar Kuhlman is a lecturer in the University of Stockholm. He's a very eminent biblical scholar. (25:29) This is what he says about it. (25:31) It is only in the year 150 A.D. (25:38) It was only in the year 150 A.D. that the word evangelion was used in the sense of book. (25:49) So, 150 years after the death of Christ, this word began to be used in the sense of book. (25:57) Before that, it was not. (26:00) And before this, before 150 A.D., these were called memoirs, narratives, stories of the apostles. (26:14) And thus you can see why they say the gospel according to Matthew. (26:20) Because Matthew is trying to explain what was the good news. (26:27) John was trying to explain what was the good news. (26:31) But the explanation of the good news is also a good news. Do you get it? (26:37) So now you can see, good news number one, good news number two. (26:43) Good news number two includes good news number one. (26:47) The word injeel is used in two senses. (26:50) And the Quran is very now clear, almost uncanny, when it speaks of that God gave Jesus a message, (27:01) and it speaks of something that is written containing the message. (27:07) Now this is more or less a linguistic analysis and so on. (27:14) Now, I submit to you therefore that these gospels in the second sense contain the sermons, the proverbs, the moral teachings of Christ. (27:25) It's a message. It contains a message. (27:29) And it's a message that Jesus was bringing to the Jews of his time as well as to Gentiles or the non-Jews. (27:39) Again, if you people don't trust me, let me quote Byron, one of these fellows who produced this dictionary. (27:50) He says, and I quote, in the New Testament, he says, the gospels do not talk of themselves. (28:04) Now this is very interesting. (28:06) In the New Testament, he says, the gospels do not talk of themselves. (28:12) They contain the message of Jesus. So, number two is containing number one. (28:20) But he says, the rule of the four books, he says, are not the actual messages. (28:26) They contain the message. (28:30) Now, this shows a difference between the so-called in-Jews or the non-Jews in this sense with the Koran. (28:38) The Koran talks of itself, right? (28:41) As I pointed out that night, the Koran says, this is a book. (28:46) This is a book. (28:48) The Koran also talks about itself. (28:51) There is no crookedness in this Koran. (28:54) The gospels do not talk of themselves. (28:57) Number two does not talk of number two. (29:02) Number two talks of number one. (29:06) I hope I'm not too pedantic or pushing this so much and so on. (29:12) And so, let me just mention that, let me conclude that I believe that the Koran says, (29:20) Allah gave Isa a message. (29:23) It means a good news, good news, good tidings. (29:31) But, what we now have in history or something written is an attempt to write down this message. (29:39) But, Allah would not have given Jesus this, because it talks about his death. (29:47) Now, the question is this. (29:48) What is this message? (29:51) Now, we know enough about that. (29:52) What is this message? (29:56) What does the Koran say about it? (29:58) And what do these gospels later on say? (30:02) What is this message? (32:22) All biographical details. (32:26) Some found here, some found there. (32:34) I will not go into this now. (32:38) But, regarding the message itself of Jesus, I'll try to enumerate some of them, (32:44) arrange them for you, but not necessarily in the sequence of order, (32:49) but just how they came to me when I was typing this, because I was very much in a hurry. (32:55) But, I'll mention about two or three. (32:59) The first one, this whole message, according to the Koran, (33:04) Jesus always says that there is one and only one God to whom all worship is due. (33:13) And the Koran says, your Lord and my Lord, which means the same Lord. (33:21) And so stating this, that only Allah is worthy of worship, (33:26) Christ himself is saying very clearly that no man is to be worshipped. (33:33) That is the message. (33:35) Even if he is a prophet or a messenger. (33:40) Therefore, we conclude that this thing, or part of this message of Christ, (33:46) is the general theme, not only of the Koran, but of all other prophets. (33:51) That the God of the people and the God of the prophets is the one and only one God (33:56) to whom everybody was worshipped, and the people who preach this are only human beings. (34:03) No one can be God except Allah Himself. (34:06) That is a fundamental message found in the Koran. (34:11) It's also found here. (34:14) The Gospels always speak about worshipping the very one God. (34:21) Number two. (34:23) We've seen that to our information already. (34:28) Number one shows that prophets have a certain function. (34:34) And, mention in particular, that it is to confirm previous messages. (34:41) This is found also here, where Christ says, I do not come to destroy the law, (34:47) but to fulfill it. (34:49) Same thing is found in the Koran. (34:53) A very important message from the Koran. (34:57) Jesus, son of Mary, emphasized individual responsibility along moral lines. (35:05) He said that reward of punishment will be given to a person according to his actions. (35:15) In brief, Jesus taught that there was a day of judgment. (35:20) And this can be gathered from the following verses. (35:22) Surah 3, 56, 57. (35:26) Surah 4, 121. (35:28) Surah 3, 35, 58. (35:34) And thus, you can see when the story in the Koran where Jesus will say to Allah, (35:41) don't blame me for what these people have done. (35:44) I've only told them I am this. (35:46) But they invented things about me. (35:49) They invented things about others. (35:50) But they are going to pay for their sins. (35:55) But those who are righteous, those who are good, (35:58) those who follow the teachings of the Prophet, (36:00) those who worship Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, (36:03) these people will merit heaven. (36:06) That is the key of salvation. (36:10) Jesus Christ is saying, there is heaven for good people. (36:14) What can be better good news than that? (36:18) Can you find better news? (36:20) Than to say that the man who suffers tribulation but is firm in righteousness, (36:28) he will be judged well and he will go to heaven. (36:31) That is the essence of the so-called good news or good tidings and so on. (36:40) And those who are righteous, they will deserve paradise. (36:45) It is good news. (36:48) I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. (37:02) I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. (37:13) May Allah bless you and grant you success. (37:18) I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. (37:25) What is this? (37:32) Angelos is messenger. (37:35) Angelos is messenger. (37:37) That is why the word angel comes from... (37:41) The English word angel. (37:44) Yeah. (37:45) Like in Tunisia. (37:50) Eugenics. (37:52) And angel is the messenger. (37:54) The word angel comes from that. (37:59) Because angelos means a messenger. (38:03) I didn't mention that anymore. (38:06) In Arabic it is a Malay. (38:09) Yes. (38:10) Or from Malacca. (38:14) So it is a different concept. (38:16) Because in the messenger in Arabic... (38:19) But in some ways... (38:21) But still... (38:22) There are verses that represent messengers too. (38:27) Gabriel brings messengers. (38:28) But they are selective because they say the angel and Gabriel. (38:32) So they make a discrimination. (38:35) A distinction. (38:36) Yeah. (38:39) Put your dress down Jamila. (38:41) I don't want any flashes in this box. (38:44) Thank you very much. (38:46) No, I have. (38:48) Yes. (38:50) I like it. (38:59) Sometimes we understand a lot more by understanding what the word is. (39:02) We don't even know the meaning of the words we use. (39:13) Thank you.