ON PROPHET MUHAMMAD

ON PROPHET MUHAMMAD

By: Kassim Ahmad

29^th July, 2016

Darul_hikmah333@yahoo.com.my

   I am writing this article to clarify once and for all my position on Prophet Muhammad. My detractors accuse me of belittling him. I never did. In fact I was like them before, repeating parrot-like, their mantra on him (“May God bless him and may peace be on him”) every time his name is mentioned. This I inherited from my ancestors. However I felt uneasy, though amazed and perplexed, at Muhammad superelevated position.

   Truth to tell, I began to study the Quran at the age of seventeen. Every year I would repeat it, comparing one translation with another for thirty-six years till I was 54. That was when I wrote my book re-evaluating the Hadith in 1986. The book, in Malay, was discussed in all print media for two months. Half the readers supported me; half opposed. ABIM (the Anwar-led Muslim Youth Movement) invited me to discuss it in a dialogue at the end of which they arbitrarily pronounced it as  deviant. That brought the ban by a fatwa (religious edict)

   At the University I studied Arabic as a subsidiary subject and continued to study it later. By then I had collected 13 Malay as well as English translations of the Quran, including what I consider the best modern English translation by Dr. Rahsd Khalifa.

   Yesterday was a hectic day for me. In the morning, I visited the Grand Old Man of Malaysia (GOMM) in his office in Putrajaya. Sadly I found him not to be his old confident self any more. Not only age has taken a toll on him, but he has also made peace with conservative Shafi’e school of thought and has distanced himself with the new forward-looking young Malaysians Although I am nearing 83, I feel as young as ever.

   I raced to a sumptuous launch appointment given by my young niece in an Arab restorant in Petaling Jaya. By time it was over, it was already 4.15 p.m. My son took to my last appointment at a Starback in Setia Impian in Shah Alam, scheduled for 5.0 p.m. Fortunately, the persons I was to meet were also late. There I met a young Hungarian Muslim lecturer, teaching economics at one of our advanced  institudes of higher learning. We had a very frutful discussion for more than three hours. I am happy to record that he and I shared similar views on all topics.

   To continue my story, Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet of God, beginning with Prophet Adam, through prophets Abraham, Moses and Jesus, teaching the same religion of monotheism to their national communities, with the exception that Muhammad was sent to the whole world, delivering the divinely-protected Quran. Hence he is called “a mercy to the world” in the Quran

   Muhammad was an intelligent and honest seeker of the truth. When young he and his friends formed an organization to oversee the peace in Mecca, where he was born. When he reached the age of 40, the age of spiritual maturety, he received the Quran. He was strictly ordered to deliver the Quran, and nothing but the Quran, thus making the the hadiths ascribed to him as fabrications.

   The correct Muslim declaration of faith (the syahadah) is found it the Quran in 3: 18. The fabricated and false second syahadah is found in 63: 1.     

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KASSIM AHMAD is a Malaysia author. His website is www.kassimahmad.blogspot.com

PM NAJIB SHOULD RESIGN

PM NAJIB MUST HONOURABLY RESIGN

By: Kassim Ahmad

24^th July, 2016

darul_hikmah333@yahoo.com.my

            After the indirection mention of his name with two others related to him by the United States Department of Justice two days ago, it is best that Prime Minister Najib honourably resigns. There can be no use whatsoever for him to continue to hold office, seeing the financial scandals that have surfaced involving him and his cronies. He should own up and ask for forgiveness from the Malaysian people. The Malaysia people are known for their magnanimous treatment of repentant wrongdoers.

            The UMNO supreme council should call into session an extraordinary UMNO general assembly which will accept his resignation and recommends the calling of the 14^th general elections. Our Parliament should convene and call for the general election.

            An UMNO general assembly should also elect new delegates and a new supreme council. This new general assembly should pass a resolution to root out corruption completely from the party and the government. If Singapore can do it, why cannot we?  A system of cadre-and-leader training must be instituted to bring about a zero corruption system by giving rise to principled politicians. Our people must not and should not accept less than that. We should base ourselves on the shining example of Prophet Muhammad, the leader who wrought an exemplary vessel of statecraft.

            Our Federal Constitution should be changed to reflect a just system of governance, as ordered by God in the Quran. This would better suit our constitutional stipulation that “Islam is the religion of the Federation.” With due respect to the famous jurists of the Reid Commission which drafted our constitution, they seemed unaware of the Prophet’s seminal constitutional document, known as the Medina Charter, the first written constitution in the world.[1]

            It should be noted that the Medina Charter assigns the autonomous administration of religions to their respective its adherents, thus at one stroke of the pen eliminates religious conflicts. The state does not concern itself with religion.

            Government, as are other affairs,  is carried out through consultation by the community. This is far more satisfactory than the Western concept of check and balance. It is strange that the two hand that God gave us is made to fight one another! Why can they cooperate to enjoin good and prevent evil? More over this check-and-balance theory has not been able to prevent the rise of colonialism and the creation of the Zionist State of Israel, a clear illegal and unjust occupation of Arab Palestine. 

      

KASSIM AHMAD is an Malaysian author. His website is www.kassimahmad.blogspot.com

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[1] See Kassim Ahmad,A Short Note on the Medina Charter, in the Internet, 19 Org.

MANKIND'S PRAYER

THE PRAYER OF MANKIND

By: Kassim Ahmad

21 July, 2016

darul_hikmah333@yahoo.com.my

The title of this essay will no doubt bring to mind Jesus’s “The Lord’s Prayer”. The Lord’s Prayer goes: “Our Father which art in heaven./Hallowed be thy name./Thy kingdom come./Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven./Give us this day our daily bread./And forgive us our debts, as we forgive out debtors./And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil./For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen./ [1]

Note that the Lord’s Prayer is in three parts. Firstly, it is praise to the Lord. Secondly, it refers to the Lord’s perfect kingdom. Thirdly,  asking  for man’s daily food. Fourthly, imploring against evil and temptation in the Lord’s perfect  kingdom.

In comparison to the opening chapter of the Quran, which I have called “Mankind’s Grand Prayer”, it is divided into four parts. Firstly, it is praise for the Lord of the worlds (Note the plural form).  Secondly, it acknowledges that this Lord is the final Judge of mankind. Thirdly, only this Lord deserves to be worshipped and only this Lord is mankind’s helper. Fourthly, it is mankind’s  prayer to be shown the right path as distinguished from the various deviating paths of error. [2]

Let me quote the this short seven-verse opening chapter in full, using Dr. Rashad Khalifa’s translation:-

1.     In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

2.     Praise be to God, Lord of the universe.

3.     Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

4.     Master of the Day of Judgment.

5.     You alone we worship; You alone we ask for help.

6.     Guide us in the right path;

7.     The path of those whom You bless; not those who have deserved wrath, nor of the strayers.

There is also a very important difference. The stark materialism of the Lord’s Prayer is entirely absent from this Mankind’s Prayer, at once placing it on a more ethical and spiritual level. Food and other material requirement are implied in the fourth part.  The deviating ways are quite clearly spelt out: the path of those whom God is wrathful with, and those who stray without meaning to stray.

Quranic methodology is that every verse interprets one another. At the same time, one should note a very important pointer: the muhkamat verses (clear by themselves and acting as the determining verses), and the mutasyabihat or allegorical verses. The danger in the allegorical verses is that those who have diseases in their hearts may give a wrong interpretation and thus cause confusion and disorder. None knows their meanings except God and those who have profound knowledge. The meanings of the allegorical verses must not contradict the clear (muhkamat) verses, which control the interpretation of the allegorical verses.

I have had occasions to discuss with religious scholars as to the meaning of the right path in contradistinction with the erring paths. I find that they were unable to give me a satisfactory answer. That sets me to seek my own answers. I prayed to God and implored His guidance to give answers to the most important  questions of life and of creation, always mindful that among my many teachers, God is the first and last teacher.

Fortunately, I studied philosophy. So I consulted epistemology, the science of knowing – how do you know? As always the case, the Quran nonchalantly answers by giving the three methods of knowing: ‘ain’ul-yaqin (sensory evidence), ilm’ul-yaqin (rational or logical evidence), and haqq’al-yaqin suprasensory/ supralogical  evidence). Combine these three methods into a whole and you have opened the door to inexhaustible knowledge!

That is the reason why the angels were ordered by God to prostrate to Man, His vicegerent in the Universe. Man has the ability to know when no other created orders have.

KASSIM AHMAD is a Malaysian author. His website is www.kassimahmad.blogspot.com    

   

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[1] See The Holy Bible (Authirise King James Version); Matthew, 6: 9-14.

[2][2] See The Quiran – The Final Testament, Translated by Dr. Rahsd Khalifa, published by Universal Unity, 20000.  

MUSLIM DECLARATION OF FAITH

SYAHADAH OR DELARATION OF MUSLIM FAITH

By: Kassim Ahmad

2^nd July, 2016

darul_hikmah333@yahoo.com.my

            The syahadah or the declaration of Muslim faith is an important pillar of faith. Customs or what one inherits from one’s ancestors is almost always different from what is taught by God and his Prophet. This pillar is stated in Surah 3, verse 18. The full verse goes, “God bears witness that there is no god except He, and so do the angels and those who possess knowledge, truthfully and equitably; He is the absolute god, there is no god but He, the Almighty, Most Wise.”

Among the sectarian Sunnis, they add: “I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.” This so-called second syahadah is, however, rendered null and void in Surah 63: verse 1 by God and His messenger. Those who declare it are hypocrites!

            To prove that what we say is correct, we have to quote other verses. One of them goes, “When God alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with aversion. But when others are mentioned besides him, they rejoice.” (39: 45). More. “You shall know that there is no god besides God.” (47: 19). Also 4: 87; 40: 65; and 27: 44 (syahadah of the Queen of Sheba[1]. Also the correct syahadah of the Pharaoh of the time of Moses, but was not accepted by God as he was doing that only when he was drowning! (10: 9). Also the sincere syahadah of Pharaoh’s magicians (7: 121-122) when they lost their contest with Moses; and the syahadah of Abraham and his descendants. (2: 131-133).

            So was all Jewish prophet-mesengers’ declaration of faith. Had it been different, it would have made Islam not one religion, but many. This is impossible.

            Yet, truth to tell, the entire Muslim world practices two syahadah. Or most Muslims do. They read the same scripture, the Quran, but their understanding of this most important pillar of faith is different. How do you account for it? The answer is contained in verse 2 of the second Surah. The verse goes, “ This is the scripture, no doubting it, is a guide for the conscientious.” Who can give guidance? Only God can, and no one else; not even Prophet Muhammad. Recall that Muhammad was unable to persuade his Quraisy unbelieving relatives to become Muslims!

            I want to pose the mother of all questions. Thirty years after Muhammad’s death, the Arab armies of liberation liberated the whole of the then hegemonic powers, the Persian and the Byzantian Empires. Islam became the lone superpower, to last for eight centuries. Medieval Europe sat to learn at the feet of Baghdad for three centuries. [2] That gave rise to the European Renaissance.

            My mother of all questions is: Have any modern Muslim thinkers tackled the problem of the second rise of Islam( the true Islam, that is)? I would like to meet him, congratulate him and to propose to him to begin the second Islamic Renaissance. It is high time, seeing that liberal-capitalist Europe and America are collapsing.  

KASSIM AHMAD is a Malaysian author. His website is www.kassimahmad.blohspot.com     

           

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[1]  We searched high and low, but unable to locate the place.

[2] Unfotunately, most European historians, except a few, conspired to erase this important contributions of Muslims to world science and civilization.