Grace of the Doctrine during Jahiliyya - Pre and Post-Islam

The doctrine, during jahiliyya (pre-Islamic ignorance) and afterwards, seems merciful. True mercy. Mercy for the heart and mind, and for life and the living. Mercy in its beauty and simplicity, its clarity and consistency, its intimacy and ease, and its deep direct response to human instinct. Therefore, the great truth of Allah prevails: "Is he who walks fallended on his face more rightly guided, or he who walks upright on a straight path?" [(1)]

The Miracle of Islam: Tawheed

"Allah - The Prophet - The Qur'an - The Kaaba". The Islamic perception is the only one that has remained based on pure and complete monotheism (Tawheed). The feature of Tawheed distinguishes and distinguishes this concept among all the prevailing beliefs around the globe. All the philosophies and schools of thought on which Western thought is based have receded. These concepts led humans to flounder in this life based on their shallow perceptions that lean sometimes towards matter, at other times towards the spirit, and sometimes towards power without a realistic appreciation for human nature and its desires.

The Islamic perception, however, stands firmly in its holistic understanding of human characteristics, providing steady life paths to ensure dignified and peaceful living. It guides humans to build a life and nourish the spirit in congruity with human nature, without causing distress or fragmentation. Hence, many thinkers have studied Islam, the life of the Prophet (Peace be upon him),[(1)] These excerpts do not substitute for reading the book to understand the scope of the Islamic approach.

The Influence of Islam on Civilization

After undertaking a deep study of the principles of this religion, they recorded their conversions with many embracing Islam. They began calling others towards this faith until Europe started seeking its assistance in solving their problems.

Bernard Shaw's Remarks on Islam

Bernard Shaw, after studying Islam, stated, "I truly believe that if a man like Muhammad ruled the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that brings the world the peace, happiness, and reassurance it desperately needs."

The Positive Impact of Islam

"Islam has contributed more to civilization than Christianity. It hoisted up the banner of equality and brotherhood. These proofs are cited from reports of English employees and from what has been written by most tourists about the positive results of the Islamic religion. When a nation from the Sudanese nations embraces it, immediately the worship of idols, following the devil, and associating others with the Merciful disappear straight away. It prohibits the eating of human flesh, killing men, and burying children alive. The adherents take up the causes of reform and love cleanliness, avoiding filth and earnestly striving towards achieving virtues and personal honor.

Islamic Morality

Among the religious duties for them becomes offering hospitality to guests. Drinking alcohol and gambling become hateful actions. Ugly dancing and indiscriminate intermixing with women become detested. They consider a woman’s chastity a virtue and adhere to good character traits. As for excess in freedom and ensnarement in beastly desires, they are not permissible in Islamic law.

The Universality of Islam

Islam is the religion that universalises order among people. It represses the self from desires and prohibits spilling blood, cruelty in treating animals or slaves. It recommends humanity and encourages acts of kindness and brotherhood."

Moderation in Polygamy and Restraint of Desires

A Russian philosopher, fair in his judgments, took it upon himself to defend Islam when he saw the bias of other religious communities against this faith. His passion for truth spurred him to write a book about the sons of Islam, in which he commented:

Origins of the Islamic Prophet

"The prophet of Islam was born in the lands of the Arabs, from poor parents. In his youth, he was a shepherd, inclined to solitude and seclusion in the wilderness and deserts, contemplating God, the creator of the universe. His contemporary Arabs worshipped many gods, going to great lengths to appease them and satisfy them, establishing rituals and offering various sacrifices for them."

Shifting Beliefs

"As age progressed, he developed a belief in the corruption of these gods and the existence of one true God for all people and nations. Mohammad's faith in this idea increased, so he began inviting his people and family to his thinking, announcing that God had chosen him to guide them, entrusted him with the illumination of their insights, and the demolition of their false religions and worships."

The proclamation of his Faith

"He began proclaiming his belief and religion. The essence of this religion the messenger called for: is that there is only one God- there is no deity but He- and it is therefore not permissible to worship anyone else. That God is just and merciful to his servants, and that the final destiny of man depends solely on Him. Whoever believes in Him, God will reward him with a good reward in the hereafter. If one opposed God’s laws and followed his desires, he would be punished with severe punishment in the hereafter.

Commandments of Loving God and Each Other

"God commands people to love Him and love each other. To love God is to pray, and to love people is to share in their joys and sorrows. Those who believe in God and the Last Day should strive to curb anything that may incite psychic desires and to avoid worldly pleasures. They are obliged not to..."

Muhammad, may peace be upon him - A Prophet Sent

Muhammad, peace be upon him, a prophet sent, asks: "How could he acquire this immense amount of scientific knowledge in the seventh century of the Christian era, a time of widespread ignorance? How to amass such scientific knowledge that preceded contemporary scientific culture by more than fourteen centuries?" Listen to his words:

"I was deeply amazed at first by these scientific aspects that the Quran specializes in. I never believed it possible to discover such a large number of claims related to topics of extreme diversity, and that are entirely consistent with modern scientific knowledge, in a text written more than thirteen centuries ago. Initially, I had no faith in Islam. I approached these texts with an open-minded spirit, free from all prejudice and with absolute objectivity. If any influence has been exercised, it was certainly the teachings I received in my youth, where the majority spoke not of Muslims but of Muhammadans to emphasize that the religion was founded by a man and thus devoid of any value before God. Like many, I could have remained harboring these erroneous ideas about Islam. It is so prevalent that I always get surprised when I meet non-specialists enlightened on these points. I confess that I was ignorant before a picture of Islam was given to me, different from the one we generally have in the West."

"When I was able to measure the distance separating the reality of Islam from the image we created about it in our Western countries, I felt the urgent need to learn Arabic, which I did not know, in order to be able to progress in the study of this religion unknown to many. My first goal was to read the Quran and study its text sentence by sentence, drawing on various necessary comments for critical study. I paid particular attention to the description it gives of a large number of natural phenomena."

The Marvel of Quranic Precision

I am astounded by the precision of specific details related to certain phenomena, details only discernible in the original text. It amazes me how these correlate with our current understanding of these phenomena, which would have been impossible for anyone during the time of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, to have any comprehension of.

The Richness of Quranic Topics

What first astonishes anyone encountering such a text for the first time is the richness of treated topics, including creation, astronomy, earth-related matters, animal and plant worlds, and human reproduction. While we find significant scientific errors in the Torah, we find none in the Quran. This led me to ask: If the author of the Quran was a human, how could they have written in the seventh century CE what is now clearly in agreement with modern scientific knowledge? There is no doubt, the Quran text that we possess today is indeed the original text.

How Can such Knowledge Be Possible?

What is the explanation, as there is no particular reason to believe that any inhabitant of the Arabian Peninsula, a region under the rule of King Dagobert of France, could possess a scientific culture that presages our science by around ten centuries regarding some matters?

On the Timing of Quranic Revelation

It is indeed established that in the period of the Quran's revelation, stretching approximately twenty years before and after the year of Hijra (622 CE), scientific knowledge had been in a dormant phase for several centuries. Also, the active era of Islamic civilization, alongside its scientific flourishing, was subsequent to the end of the Quran's revelation.

Claiming Foreknowledge: A Strange Proposal

The ignorance of these religious and worldly facts alone allows for the strange proposition I sometimes hear, which says that the astounding scientific claims in the Quran are because the Arab scientists were ahead of their time and thus, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was inspired by their studies. Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of history...

Miracles of Moses, David, and Jesus

Just as there were wonders performed by Moses, David, and Jesus, son of Mary, it is said about the chosen Prophet and selected Messenger, sent forth in truth to all of creation—humans and jinn—Muhammad, son of Abdullah, son of Abdul Muttalib, the last of all prophets and a messenger of the Lord of all worlds, may God's blessings be upon him and his pure, righteous progeny: He has revealed more signs and clear proofs than any other Messenger. Some scholars have cited that the signs of his prophethood number up to one thousand.

The Knowledge Within His Call

The author then says, "As for the knowledge that is associated with his call and has continued to grow throughout his life, and that remains within his Ummah (community of believers) after his death, it is the Great Quran, the Clear Lexicon, the Strong Rope of God."

Exploring the Miracles of Quran

The author then analyzes aspects of the miracle of the Quran, and states that "our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, in addition to the Quran, was given manifest signs and apparent miracles beyond count or concealment."

Miracles of the Prophet Muhammad

The author then briefly discusses the miracles, relying mainly on two types of miracles: Firstly, the miracle of the Holy Quran; and secondly, the miracles of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, which are evidence of his prophethood.

He then said: Among the indications of his prophethood that the People of the Book utilized to verify his prophethood was what they found in the Torah and the Gospel and all the other books of God regarding his character and his emergence in the land of the Arabs, even if many of them had distorted these details.

Signs and Events Surrounding His Birth and Mission

Among the signs of his prophethood were the strange events and wondrous phenomena that occurred between the days of his birth and his mission, which shook the authority of the leaders of disbelief and nullified their claims, reiterated by the tongue of the Arabs, commemorating in their accounts such as the incident of the elephants and what God had permitted in terms of punishment and retribution.

Included in these signs were the dimming of the Persian fire, the falling of the palaces of Khosrow's pavilion, and the flood of Lake Sawah.