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Challenge: Does the Quran tell us to obey a messenger after prophet Muhammad?
This article is meant for the purpose of showing that we will not have to obey any human who comes after prophet Muhammad and then claims to be a messenger or prophet.
*[3:3] He sent down to you this scripture, truthfully, confirming all previous scriptures, and He sent down the Torah and the Gospel
Prophet Muhammad's miracle the Quran confirms all previous scripture. Then why do we need a person namely rashad khalifa to confirm which that has already been confirmed?The following verses, from the Quran, show that a messenger is to come after the revelation of the Quran.
[3:81] GOD took a covenant from the prophets, saying, "I will give you the scripture and wisdom. Afterwards, a messenger will come to confirm all existing scriptures. You shall believe in him and support him." He said, "Do you agree with this, and pledge to fulfill this covenant?"
They said, "We agree." He said, "You have thus borne witness, and I bear witness along with you."[33:7] Recall that we took from the prophets their covenant, including you (O Muhammad), Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary. We took from them a solemn pledge.
With time, God's message are corrupted. God then sends His messengers to renew His message. We've seen this with Judaism and Christianity, and Islam is no exception.
*[2:177] Righteousness is not turning your faces towards the east or the west. Righteous are those who believe in GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture, and the prophets; and they give the money, cheerfully, to the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars, and to free the slaves; and they observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and give the obligatory charity (Zakat); and they keep their word whenever they make a promise; and they steadfastly persevere in the face of persecution, hardship, and war. These are the truthful; these are the righteous
Had it been that a messenger would come who will not be a prophet, then surely GOD would have put in the above verse to beleive in the messengers. This verse also clearly implies the fact that we do not have to obey anyone who is NOT a prophet. It also proves that rk is fake and that we must not obey him.This challenge has already been adressed in at least two previous articles on this site. But for the conveniece of the reader the answer is reproduced below again.
There are several aspects of our belief which is not specified in this verse, yet beautifully included anyway. As always, God speaks to us in the most wise and effective manner. The way it works is that if a person truly believes in God, the Last Day, the angels, the scripture and the prophets, that person will believe everything else that is required to attain righteousness. If you take out even one of those components, a person cannot be a believer. Let us explain.
Belief in God
Obviously people who do not believe in God are automatically excluded from this category of people.
Belief in His angels
Then there are people who do believe in God, but do not believe in His system. That is part of what the angels represent - God's system - and all that entails. For example, God's system is that He, by choice, uses other entities to perform certain tasks to fulfill His plan. Not understanding or believing in His system causes some people to attribute power to God's creatures, and also causes some people to question God. Satan knows that God exists, without a doubt, but he rejects God's system, rejects His absolute authority. Thus he is described as a disbeliever.
Belief in the Last Day
Then there are people who believe in God and His angels, but do not believe in the Last Day. They do not believe that they will face God one day and be held accountable. This causes them to deviate in this life, and not take the commandments seriously. Some people completely reject the idea of a retribution or a reward at the end of this life. If a person does not believe in the Hereafter, the objective for doing good cannot be tied to God and His system, but most probably to people and their system. That is not good enough (4:124, 16:97, 17:19).
Belief in His revelations
Then there are people who believe in God, His angels and the Last Day but do not believe in God's scriptures and thus prophets. That is not good enough. God did not send His commandments and guidance for nothing. We demonstrate our belief by upholding His commandments. At the same time it helps us develop our souls (7:8). This is necessary, as we read in 6:158 and 10:91.
Belief in ALL His revelations
Then there are people who believe in God, His angels, the Last Day and His scripture, but not all His scriptures and thus not all His prophets. They may believe in one or two, but not in all of them. Thus they reject some of God's revelations and make distinction between God's prophets and revelations, which is not a trait of the righteous (2:136, 2:285, 3:84, 4:150). This is equivalent to saying "I like this part of what God said but not this other part." Perhaps this is why we read believe in God's "scripture", singular in 2:177. As it all is from God, it is in fact one scripture sent down in stages to us, the Quran being the final part, the final testament.
A righteous person will...
If a person believes in God, His angels, the Last Day, His scripture and the prophets, that person WILL believe in God's messengers, because they all confirm previous scriptures. That person will also keep their chastity and observe Hajj if they can afford it and fast in the month of Ramadan, since it is explained in the scripture, eventhough it is not specified in this verse in particular.
*[3:7] He sent down to you this scripture, containing straightforward verses - which constitute the essence of the scripture - as well as multiple-meaning or allegorical verses. Those who harbor doubts in their hearts will pursue the multiple-meaning verses to create confusion, and to extricate a certain meaning. None knows the true meaning thereof except GOD and those well founded in knowledge. They say, "We believe in this - all of it comes from our Lord." Only those who possess intelligence will take heed.
GOD clearly states in the above verse that those who try to explain the allegorical verses are people who harbour doubts in their hearts and also that those people pursue to explain the allegorical verses are doing it to create confusion. rk has translated and explained allegorical verses. One perfect example would be 46:15, which by trying to explain rk derived the insensible conclusion that anybody who dies below the age of 40 goes to heaven. verse 3:7 implies that we should never beleive a person who tries to explain allegorical verses."rk has translated and explained allegorical verses."
Rashad, just as any other translator, has translated ALL the verses in the Quran. Are you suggesting he shouldn't have?
Verse 46:15 is by no means an allegorical verse. It is a straightforward command telling every believer to say specific words upon reaching the age of forty, the age of maturity (46:15, 35:37, 12:22).
The following verses however are examples of allegorical verses in the Quran:
[13:35] The allegory of Heaven, which is promised for the righteous, is flowing streams, inexhaustible provisions, and cool shade. Such is the destiny for those who observe righteousness, while the destiny for the disbelievers is Hell.
[14:18] The allegory of those who disbelieve in their Lord: their works are like ashes in a violent wind, on a stormy day. They gain nothing from whatever they earn; such is the farthest straying.
[24:35] GOD is the light of the heavens and the earth. The allegory of His light is that of a concave mirror behind a lamp that is placed inside a glass container. The glass container is like a bright, pearl-like star. The fuel thereof is supplied from a blessed oil-producing tree,
that is neither eastern, nor western. Its oil is almost self-radiating; needs no fire to ignite it. Light upon light. GOD guides to His light whoever wills (to be guided). GOD thus cites the parables for the people. GOD is fully aware of all things.[24:40] Another allegory is that of being in total darkness in the midst of a violent ocean, with waves upon waves, in addition to thick fog. Darkness upon darkness - if he looked at his own hand, he could barely see it. Whomever GOD deprives of light, will have no light.
[29:41] The allegory of those who accept other masters beside GOD is that of the spider and her home; the flimsiest of all homes is the home of the spider, if they only knew.
[47:15] The allegory of Paradise that is promised for the righteous is this: it has rivers of unpolluted water, and rivers of fresh milk, and rivers of wine - delicious for the drinkers - and rivers of strained honey. They have all kinds of fruits therein, and forgiveness from their Lord. (Are they better) or those who abide forever in the hellfire, and drink hellish water that tears up their intestines?
Now, compare this with verse 46:15, which you claim is an allegorical verse...
[46:15] We enjoined the human being to honor his parents. His mother bore him arduously, gave birth to him arduously, and took intimate care of him for thirty months. When he reaches maturity, and reaches the age of forty, he should say, "My Lord, direct me to appreciate the blessings You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do the righteous works that please You. Let my children be righteous as well. I have repented to You; I am a submitter."
*[7:157] "(4) follow the messenger, the gentile prophet (Muhammad), whom they find written in their Torah and Gospel. He exhorts them to be righteous, enjoins them from evil, allows for them all good food, and prohibits that which is bad, and unloads the burdens and the shackles imposed upon them. Those who believe in him, respect him, support him, and follow the light that came with him are the successful ones."
No where in the Quran does the book tell us to beleive and obey a "messenger of the covenant".No where in the Quran does it call upon Muhammad to 1)"Give glad tidings of a messenger",2) say"There will come a messenger or prophet after me.". In the above verse you can see that thoses who follow, respect,beieve and support prophet MUHAMMD are the successfulones. We follow prophet Muhammad. You follow a lier named rashad khalifa. If the truth has not enterd to your hearts even now and that you follow a code more than Allah's words then i have the following to say to you:As we go through these articles we see that the same challenge is repeated many times, but with different headings. So, this challenge has already been adressed on this page.
[3:61] If anyone argues with you, despite the knowledge you have received, then say, "Let us summon our children and your children, our women and your women, ourselves and yourselves, then let us invoke GOD's curse upon the liars."
If you are truthful say Ameen to the above prayer. And then Lets us wait to see what is in store for us in the hereafter.As you utter this call on God's curse upon the liars, so do we.
Not with Ameen though, as this is not a word that belongs in the prayers of a follower of the religion of Abraham, Islam. This word has it's roots in heathen or pagan religions.
Source: WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University A·men also A·mon or Am·mon
( P ) Pronunciation Key (ä
m
n) n. Mythology
- The Egyptian god of life and reproduction, represented as a man with a ram's head
Amen
n : a primeval Egyptian personification of air and breath; worshipped especially at Thebes [syn: Amen, Amon]
http://www.egypt-tehuti.org/articles/egypt-bible-similarities.html
In the three religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, whenever the faithful pray, regardless of language, they always end their prayer by saying Amen. There is no linguistic translation for Amen, because it is a name and not a word. The origin of Amen is Egyptian, for Amen was the name of God. The Jews have learned about Amen during their sojourn in Egypt, which lasted for four generations.The name of Amen, which means the Hidden One, in Ancient Egypt, lives on.