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From Magic City Morning Star Aboo Mohammad Introduction In the wake of the events that are taking place at the moment (the earthquakes and the tsunamis), we ask ourselves why a thing like this would happen; others may even go as far as asking why GOD would allow such things to happen? When we look back we find the answers in the ancient scriptures as history often repeats itself. Judaism, Christianity and Islam all have a stand on this issue. Let us use the evidence of these ancient scriptures to find why these things happened. There are reasons behind all things, so the answers could be found. In the Holy Quran Allah is telling us in Chapter 103 (Al Asr) Verily man is at a loss, we see the world around us, and we see how man has become materialistic, greedy, and evil. He has forgotten who his lord is. He is running after the pleasures and desires of this world and has made that his lord. Man has turned towards Idol worship rather than worshipping the one GOD. So GOD in this short chapter is reminding us that we are at a loss and he is giving us the way out of this, “except those who believe in (Islamic monotheism)”, why Islamic? You may ask. Because Monotheism in Islam is pure 100% monotheism. There is none other worthy of worship but GOD. Period, he does not have any partners nor children. He is one and only one. Every thing is done by him, His will only is done. Although this is mentioned in Christianity too, but then GOD is part of a trinity and has a son and in Judaism there were beliefs that Ezra was the son of GOD and the rabbis (according to the Talmud) are equal to the level of GOD so the concept of the Unity, the oneness of GOD is not there. GOD is telling us that we need to come back to pure Monotheism, Do good deeds, invite others to good and forbid evil and invite to truth and have patience. Some would say that even Muslims along with others too perished in the recent tragedies, true but if you look at the verse of the Quran above Allah is addressing mankind in general and not just disbelievers, so we can see that Muslims have too strayed away from the straight path and Allah is calling all man back to the right way. Man has to come back to the 4 things mentioned in the verses above in order to receive salvation from GOD and not incur his anger. We must bear in mind too that a lot of children died in these incidents. Allah will not punish them because in Islam a child is born sinless and all children up to the age of Puberty are innocent and Allah will not take them to task. They will be leaving this world of evil, hatred and short to a better world for eternal Paradise by the mercy of the Almighty Allah. These tragedies that have been taking place are reminders to man of how Allah destroyed nations and cities of the past, those who incurred his wrath. Reminders that we should look back and take lessons from the nations of the past as to why and how God destroyed them, and not allow ourselves to incur the wrath of Allah what happened to those past nations that together with their cities perished. Allah these are tests on the people to see what they resort to in the times of Calamity and despair, do they turn to GOD and ask for forgiveness and mercy and repent test to increase our faiths. Allah, said in the Holy Qur’an (chapter al-Baqara: 66). So we made it an example to their own time and to their posterity and a lesson to those who fear Allah. Let us embark on journey through time and to far away places and analyze through scripture what happened to these nations and why. The main thing here is why GOD destroyed them. Both the Quran and the Bible mention about some of these calamities. Some are found only in the Quran. Here starts a series of 6 articles in which I will try to shed light on how and why these nations were destroyed and with scriptural and archaeological evidence. We shall start with the story of Noah and his people, a story which is shared by the Bible and the Quran. Noah will be referred to here most of time as NUH his Arabic name. Chapter 9 The story of NUH He was Noah Ibn Lamik Ibn Mitoshilkh, Ibn Enoch, Ibn Yard, Ibn Mahlabeel, Ibn Qinan, Ibn Anoush, Genesis 6: The Old Testament focuses mainly on the family, lineage, the building of the Ark and how God dealt with the people of Nuh. What is does not explain is his mission, why he was sent to his people what did they do to incur GOD’s anger. The Old Testament refers to the people of Noah as being violent and corrupt and nothing more. Genesis 6: It is however only in the apocrypha (Dead Sea Scrolls) that there is any mention of Idolatry of the people post Enoch (Idris) and pre Noah (NUH), other than the breaking of other commandments like eating of Blood and sexual taboos. But the OT itself does not mention anything of the idolatry. As I mentioned in my previous article, “What is Islam”, all prophets came to teach the total submission to one GOD alone and rejected idolatry. Note: The Laws (the commandments) were in force long before the coming Moses, since it is mentioned in the Books of the earlier prophets Enoch and Noah (apocrypha).That the people of Noah were breaking the commandments by killing and their sexual taboos. (Since it is the breaking of a commandment, the tradition referred to in the text of the Damascus Document is an example of both: of the disobedience to the commandments and of twnz.)(‘NARRATIVE EXEGESIS' IN THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS by Ida Fröhlich) Many Christians I have spoken to in the past have made out the commandments to be Mosaic Law only since the tablets were given to Moses, that was why it was seen as no harm in Paul changing them, but the proof is in the Genesis Apocryphon in the Scrolls that they date from the beginning even before Moses. However the people of NUH were indulging in idolatry (among other sins), the gravest sin against GOD since he ordained that we worship him alone and none to be worshipped but him. For many generations Noah's people had been worshipping statues that they called gods. They believed that these gods would bring them good, protect them from evil and provide all their needs. Some descriptions of the origins of idolatry Ibn Jarir narrated: "There were righteous people who lived in the period between Adam and Noah and who had followers who held them as models. After their death, their friends who used to emulate them said: 'If we make statues of them, it will be more pleasing to us in our worship and will remind us of them.' So they built statues of them, and, after they had died and others came after them, Satan crept into their minds saying: Ibn Abbas explained: "Following upon the death of those righteous men, Satan inspired their people to erect statues in the places where they used to sit. They did this, but these statues were not worshiped until the coming generations deviated from the right way of life. Then they worshipped them as their idols." The essence of this point is that every idol from those earlier mentioned was worshipped by a certain group of people. It was mentioned that people made picture sand as the ages passed they made these pictures into statues, so that their forms could be fully recognized; afterwards they were worshipped instead of Allah. (Stories of the prophets, By Ibn Kathir) Allah knows very well of their affairs and mentions the names of those idols in the Quran Chapter 71 NUH sent to warn his people For this purpose GOD sent NUH to warn his people and bring them back to the worship of the one GOD alone and to save them from the wrath of GOD. It is said in the Quran. Chapter 11 NUH served his lord and warned his people for years, Chapter 29 He was a good man very eloquent and patient too. He used to tell his people about the greatness of the One GOD, how he created all that is around them, how Allah created the night and the day each in perfect balance with one another. He pointed out to his people the mysteries of life and the wonders of the universe. He taught them how GOD was the owner of the earth and what is in it and also of the universe. He taught them how Satan deceived them and made them believe that their ancestors worshipped idols. Chapter 11 Chapter 11: Chapter 11 (verses 29 -31)
The disbelievers still remained stubborn and unwilling to listen they continued to argue with the prophet NUH and when they had no more arguments they started becoming insolent and rude and insulting NUH: Chapter 11: Chapter 26 Chapter 7: But NUH being a prophet answered with wisdom from GOD Chapter 7: Nevertheless NUH carried on his mission appealing to his people, all the time explaining about God to them, but it came to the point where they refused to listen to his talks and used to put their fingers in their ears in order not to hear him. As generations came and generations went messages were passed down from father to son of the disbelievers not to listen to take heed of NUH’s message of truth. However the number of people disbelieving in him was getting more and those believing in him were not. It came to a point where the almighty revealed to NUH that no others would believe in him and that he should not be sad about them, NUH supplicated to the Lord to destroy these people: Chapter 71: Chapter 11:
After NUH had been warned by Allah that those people were a lost cause and that Allah was going to send punishment, he was advised to build his ark, which he chose to do far away from the sea outside the city. Since he was building the ark from the sea all the disbelievers started to mock him telling him that he was a better carpenter than a prophet, the Quran says: Chapter 11: Note: From this point great detail is given in the Bible as to the Size of the Ark and where the windows and doors are to be placed and what wood the ark is to be made of etc: Genesis 6 Chapter 11 The flood begins
The sign had been shown to NUH: Chapter 11 Note: A very important point to bear in mind here. The Bible and the Quran share the point of view that he was ordered to take the animals in by pairs, male and female. The Bible says in Genesis 6 This we all agree upon, however a few verses down in the Old Testament it says in Genesis 7: Chapter 7:
Note: Another very important point to bear in mind is the according to Islam prophet NUH had four sons (Yam, Sam, Ham, and Yafeth). According to Judeo/Christianity he had only 3 sons: Genesis 6: Chapter 11
42. So it (the ship) sailed with them amidst the waves like mountains, and Nûh (Noah) called out to his son, who had separated himself (apart), "O my son! Embark with us and be not with the disbelievers." 43. The son replied: "I will betake myself to a mountain, it will save me from the water." Nûh (Noah) said: "This day there is no saviour from the Decree of Allâh except him on whom He has mercy." And a wave came in between them, so he (the son) was among the drowned. 45. And Nûh (Noah) called upon his Lord and said, "O my Lord! Verily, my son is of my family! And certainly, Your Promise is true, and you are the Most Just of the judges." 46. He said: "O Nûh (Noah)! Surely, he is not of your family; verily, his work is unrighteous, so ask not of Me that of which you have no knowledge! I admonish you, lest you be one of the ignorant." Note: Another very important thing to note is that according to Islam Prophet NUH’s wife was not a believer in the One GOD too i.e. she did not submit to the will of the one GOD and was an idolater but she died before the flood. But the bible actually claims she was with NUH in the ark. God had saved the family of NUH among the believers.
74. Except the chosen slaves of Allâh (faithful, obedient, and true believers of Islâmic Monotheism). 75. And indeed Nûh (Noah) invoked us, and We are the Best of those who answer (the request). 76. And We rescued him and his family from the great distress (i.e. drowning), 77. And, his progeny, them We made the survivors (i.e. Shem, Ham and Japheth). 78. And left for him (a goodly remembrance) among generations to come in later times. Chapter 11 All those who mocked and jeered perished and drowned, the wrath of the Lord came upon them. The flood ended and the earth was given orders by the almighty creator to swallow up the water and the sky to withhold the rain. Chapter 11 Every creature that survived was returned to the Earth and the humans too. NUH fell on his face and thanked the lord. Conclusion This is a reminder from the lord of his mighty power and his wrath, that we are too fulfill GODs commandments on this earth. We are not to transgress and especially we are not to ascribe partners to the one and only true My GOD and your GOD. Allah said in the Quran: Chapter 9: Chapter 14 Chapter 25
I am just a Warner bringing to you with a message from my lord, a reminder of things that happened to nations of the past and what will happen to us if we leave the true path and transgress. I ask you all to return to the true path and not invite the anger of the lord upon us. Peace be with you Aboo Mohammad
Aboo Mohammad may be reached at aboofatimah@hotmail.com. © Copyright 2002-2007 by Magic City Morning Star |
