Voices of Islam (27 page)

Authors: Vincent J. Cornell

BOOK: Voices of Islam

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MUHAMMAD AS THE COMPLETION OF PROPHECY

Although according to Muslim belief, Muhammad came 62 generations after Abraham,
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the message he brought continually emphasizes the way of Abraham. The pilgrimage to the Ka‘ba had continued before the time of Muhammad, but many of its components had been corrupted or forgotten. This is why Muhammad called his followers to ‘‘the legacy of Abraham’’ when he was first able to make the pilgrimage to Mecca with the Muslims. In this vein, the Qur’an states: ‘‘Abraham was not a Jew or a Christian; rather he was a true devotee, a submitter (Muslim)’’ (Qur’an 3:67). This verse should not be understood as a condemnation of previous revelations, for even Jewish and Christian scholars acknowledge that Abraham did not have the same form of religious practice as do they. Rather, this verse is a call to the universality of ‘‘submission,’’ which is believed to be at the heart of all religions and is the essence of the Qur’anic view of Islam. From an Islamic perspective, all of the Prophets, from Adam to Muhammad, were submitters who came to help other human beings learn how to fully submit to God. Though they came at different times to different peoples and spoke different languages, their mission was one. Expounding upon this, the Prophet Muhammad said:

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Voices of Tradition

The likeness of me among the Prophets before me is as a man who builds a house and then refines it and beautifies it, except for the place of one brick in a corner [of the house]. Then the people come and walk around it, marveling at it, and saying, ‘‘If only this brick were in place.’’ I am the brick and I am the Seal of the Prophets.
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This does not indicate the superiority of one Prophet over others. Just as the last brick used in building a house is not thereby superior to the previous bricks, it does bring greater cohesion to the other bricks. This is why the Qur’an is filled with stories of the previous Prophets and why the Prophet Muhammad reprimanded his followers, ‘‘Do not make preferences among the Prophets.’’
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Fulfi ng its self-proclaimed function as the completion of the cycle of revelation, the Qur’an renews the primordial covenant of Abraham that had been inherited by the Arabs through Ishmael. So too, it reaffirms the cove- nants of Judaism and Christianity. The final ‘‘brick’’ in the House of Proph- ecy is thus seen to represent the renewal of the one eternal and everlasting covenant between God and human beings, which continues to be observed in different yet complementary forms. When the history of the Abrahamic religions is considered in the way the Qur’an suggests—as a continuous line of prophecy and revelation from Adam through Abraham and Moses to Muhammad—the supposedly irreconcilable differences between different Messengers and different religions can be seen as different perspectives, rather than as contradictions. In the fi al analysis, all Messengers and all Prophets affirm the eternal call of the Old and New Testaments: ‘‘Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’’ (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13). As the Qur’an says:

Truly, those who believe and those who are Jews, and the Christians and the Sabeans— whoever believes in God and the Last Day and acts virtuously— they will have their reward from their Lord. No fear shall be upon them, nor shall they grieve.

(Qur’an 2:62; 5:69)

NOTES

See also the following verses of the Qur’an: ‘‘Truly in the creation of the heav- ens and the earth and the alteration of night and day are signs for those who discern’’ (Qur’an 3:190); ‘‘Look to His fruits, how He makes them bear fruit and causes them to ripen, truly in that are signs for people who believe’’ (Qur’an 6:99); ‘‘Truly in the alteration night and day and what God has created in the heavens and the earth are signs for people who revere’’ (Qur’an 10:6). See also, Qur’an 16:12; 16:79;
et passim.
Unlike the situation in Judaism and Christianity, not all angels are messengers in Islam. Some are said to carry God’s throne while others abide in heaven praising
Prophets and Messengers of God
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God continuously with no knowledge of the created order below. Those who do function as messengers serve multiple functions. The only angel who is directly referred to as a messenger in the Qur’an is the Angel Gabriel. In some Muslim tradi- tions ‘Azra’il, the Angel of Death, also called the King of Death (
Malik al-Mawt
), functions as a messenger who conducts souls to the afterlife.
Muhammad ibn Hisham,
al-Sira al-Nabawiyya,
ed. Muhammad al-Saqqa et al. (Cairo: Maktabat Muhammad Subayh, 1963), 969.
See
Sahih al-Bukhari,
Kitab al-Adab (Book of Etiquette), 119 and
Sahih Mus- lim,
Kitab Fada’il al-Sahaba (Book of the Virtues of the Prophet’s Companions).
The translation of the term
hanif
as ‘‘true devotee’’ or ‘‘truly devout’’ is adopted from Muhammad Asad, who also translates the term as ‘‘devout.’’ Asad explains: ‘‘The expression
hanif
is derived from the verb
hanafa,
which literally means ‘he inclined towards [a right state or tendency].’ Already in pre-Islamic times, this term had a defi monotheistic connotation, and was used to describe a man who turned away from sin and worldliness and from all dubious beliefs, especially idol-worship;
tahannuf
denoted the ardent devotions, mainly consisting of long vigils and prayers, of the unitarian God-seekers of pre-Islamic times.’’ Muhammad Asad,
The Message of the Qur’an: Translated and Explained
(Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus Limited, 1984), 28, n. 110 on verse 2:135.
Ayatollah Ja‘far Sobhani,
Doctrines of Shi‘i Islam: A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices,
trans. and ed. Reza Shah-Kazemi (London: IB Tauris, 2001), 61.
The word
zubur
is here translated as ‘‘scriptures.’’ The singular name
al-Zabur
identifi the revelation given to the Prophet David (Qur’an 4:163; 17:55).
Zubur
could thus be translated as ‘‘Psalms’’ or ‘‘scriptures.’’
Sahih al-Bukhari,
Kitab al-Anbiya’ (Book of the Prophets), 48.
For a discussion of the presentation of Biblical prophets in the Qur’an, see Roberto Tottoli,
Biblical Prophets in the Qur’an and Muslim Literature
(Richmond, Surrey, U.K.: Curzon Press, 2002).
For Torah passages about God’s promise to Abraham, see the following: ‘‘And in you all the families of the Earth shall be blessed’’ (Genesis 12:3); ‘‘To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates’’ (Genesis 15:18); ‘‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations’’ (Genesis 17:4).

11. See also Qur’an 6:86; 37:113; 38:46.

For a comprehensive account of the different interpretations of the sacrifice of Abraham in the Islamic scholarly tradition, see Reuven Firestone,
Journeys into Holy Lands: The Evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael Legends in Islamic Exegesis,
(Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1990).
Sunan al-Tirmidhi,
Kitab al-Hajj (Book of the Pilgrimage), 49.
For a brief account of the history of the Ka‘ba in the generations preceding Islam, see Martin Lings,
Mecca: From Before Genesis Until Now
(Cambridge: Arche- type Books, 2004).

15. Qur’an 2:49–50; 7:103–138; 10:75–92; 11:96–99; 14:5–6; 17:101–104;

20:46–79; 23:45–49; 25:35–36; 26:10–68; 28:3–6, 36–42; 40:23–47; 43:46–56;

44:17–33; 51:38–40; 54:41–42; 73:15–16; 79:20–26.

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Voices of Tradition

16. Qur’an 3:45; 4:157; 4:171–172; 5:17 twice; 5:72 twice; 5:75; 9:30–31,
et

passim.

From one perspective, such verses can be seen as a reference to Jesus’ human nature and are an extension of the verses in the Gospel of John where Jesus states that he was sent by the Father. See John 5:23; 5:30; 5:36–37; 6:39; 6:44; 6:57; 8:16; 8:18; 8:29; 8:42; 10:36; 12:49; 14:24; 17:21; 17:25; 20:21;
et passim.
This is similar to the account of the Annunciation in the Gospel of Luke, according to which Mary shows fear and asks the Angel Gabriel: ‘‘How will this be since I am a virgin?’’ (Luke 1:34) To this Gabriel responds, ‘‘There is no deed that is impossible for God’’ (Luke 1:37).
The reference to a voice calling to Mary from under the palm tree has been understood by some exegetes as a reference to Jesus. Others see it as a reference to an angelic Messenger. Taken in light of the Muslim belief that the Qur’an clarifi
and affi previous scriptures but does not necessarily contradict them, the latter interpretation seems more viable.
The epithet ‘‘Sister of Aaron’’ is used here in reference to Mary’s line of descent through her mother Anne from the Essenes, who were descendants of Aaron. For this lineage, see
The Life of Jesus Christ and Biblical Revelations, from the Visions of the Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich,
Vol. 1 (Rockford, Illinois: TAN Books and Publishers Inc., 2004) 117–120.
See
Sahih al-Bukhari,
Kitab Ahadith al-anbiya’ (Book of Accounts of the Prophets), 51; Kitab al-tafsir (Book of Qur’an Exegesis), 33. Another account of this saying reads: ‘‘No child is born but that he is pricked by Satan and begins to weep because of the pricking of Satan, except for the son of Mary and his mother.’’ See
Sahih Muslim,
Kitab al-Fada’il (Book of Virtues), 40. A third version states: ‘‘Satan touches every son of Adam on the day when his mother gives birth to him, except for Mary and her son’’ (Ibid.).
Sahih al-Bukhari,
Kitab Ahadith al-anbiya,’ 50.

23. Ibid., 48.

Some Muslims have argued that references to the Paraclete in the Gospel of John (John 14:15–16; 16:7–14) refer in fact to the Prophet Muhammad. However, it is difficult, if not impossible, to substantiate such claims objectively.
See
Sahih Muslim,
Kitab al-Fada’il, 34.
The lineage from Abraham to Muhammad is as follows: Abraham, Ishmael, Kedar, ‘Adnan (40th descendant from Kedar) Ma‘ad, Nizar, Mudar, Ilyas, Mudrika, Khuzaima, Kinana, al-Nadr, Malik, Quraysh (Fihr), Ghalib, Lu’ayy, Ka‘b, Murra, Kilab, Qusayy, ‘Abd al-Manaf, Hashim, ‘Abd al-Muttalib, ‘Abdallah, and Muham- mad.