The Salah (Namaz or mulsim prayer) – that muslims DO NOT offer

The Salah (Namaz or mulsim prayer) – that muslims DO NOT offer

by Khurshid Imam

A. Introduction

I have seen “pious” youngsters debating endless on “The correct way of offering Salah“.
I have seen young people with long beards spending great amount of time in proving that their way of offering salah is the best and other ways being absolutely wrong.
I have heard muslims saying that Salah will not be accepted behind those imam who do not offer salah in a way they deem to be “the only correct method”.
I have witnessed night long debate between Salafi and Sunni regarding correct method of offering Salah.
I have seen youngsters posting photos in facebook describing the “correct way of offering salah” and the subsequent counter arguments.
“One need to put his hand at this position else salah will not be valid”
“If you put your hand as the way you are putting then your salah is waste”
“If you offer salah behind that imam then you salah is invalid”
“Sahi tareeqa”    ……     “correct way of offering Salah”    …….    “Salah as per sunnah”……….
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Note: In this article terms “Salah” OR “Namaz” OR “prayer” will be used interchangeably.
Also we are not going to talk about various postures of salah, positioning of various parts in salah etc. In short we are not discussing about the “body” of salah, rather “soul” of salah!

B. What was the purpose of Salah

إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنكَرِ

Indeed Prayer prevents from the immorality and evil deeds. Quran, Surah An kabut 29:45 

Almighty God says: Salah prevents one from immorality and evil deeds.
But we see many muslims who offer prayer regularly; indulging in so many wrong things. We see many of them ly-ing; many of them cheating; grabbing land, giving false witness; backbiting others; disturbing peace in the society; creating mischief in the land; giving lustful eyes to womenfolk; lending money on interest; oppressing people; disrespecting their parents.

What does it mean??
What was the purpose of Salah? The purpose was that Salah WILL prevent you from indulging in shameful and bad deeds. Allah is not telling that “if you offer salah then have shame and do not indulge in wrong things”. Please mark the difference between these statements.

Quran is NOT telling “if you offer salah then have shame and do not indulge in wrong things”.
Quran is telling “Salah prevents one from shameful and bad deeds”. It means if you will offer SALAH then it WILL prevent you from bad things.
Did you get the difference?

Quran is saying that Salah will prevent you from doing shameful and bad deeds.
Muslims are saying that they offer salah – yet we find them indulging in shameful and bad deeds.
What does it indicate? It indicate: Either Muslims are NOT offering the Salah commanded by Allah …. OR….. Word of allah is wrong !!!!!
Choice is yours. Which one you find to be true?

Case A. Word of Allah is wrong? Is Quran wrong when it is saying that “Salah will prevent you from doing shameful and bad deeds”? Still muslims – who claim to be offering salah with khushu and khuzu – are indulging in shameful and bad deeds.
…..
OR
……
Case B. These muslims are NOT offering the salah commanded as by Allah!!!!!!

C. Soul of Salah is lost

Instruction of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was that when you stand for prayer; try to imagine that Allah is seeing you.

To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must consider that He is looking at you.

‏”‏ أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ، فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ ‏”‏‏
(Bukhari, Book #60, book of tafseer; Hadith #300)
(Bukhari, Book #2, Book of belief; Hadith #47)

Salah (Namaz or prayer) is one of the most important form of worship. For offering salah we were given instruction that at least we need to:
: Try to feel the presence of Almighty God.
: Assume that Almighty God is seeing me; he is well aware what i am doing now.

Why this instruction was given?

In salah we must strive to develop this consciousness that Allah is seeing me. Allah is seeing me. When i m in qiyam (standing), in ruku (bowing), in sajda (prostration) – every moment Allah is seeing me.
If we practise this during the 5-10 minutes of one time salah then gradually we will develop God consciousness. 5 times a day of salah offered with the concentration that Allah is seeing me will soon result in increased God consciousness. With continuous practise of this way of salah; Allah will be more in our consciousness and even when we are not in salah, we are busy in our day to day activity then also we will have the consciousness that Allah is seeing me.
With the increased level of God consciousness it will be really very easy to abstain from shameful and evil acts. How? Read carefully –

When you started learning how to drive a car;
Then you are taught about functionalities of break, gear, clutch, steering etc. You are taught that to start car you need to make ignition ON, then gradually press the accelerator and release the clutch. When there is need to stop or slow down then you need to apply break and change gear and press clutch, release accelerator at the same time…..You need to focus on these things in order to drive. You can not drive car initially without consciously doing all these things. At this stage you are driving car with conscious mind.
These things are taught in the beginning to one who wants to drive car. For some days he practise in the prescribed manner and with the constant practise he is able to drive smoothly.

After 1-2 months
You would be driving car while talking on mobile, looking outside also and you will not even realize how many times you changed gears, how many times you had to suddenly apply break – because you are so well versed in driving that things are automatically happening. Now you will not think one by one what to do to stop the car. Things are stored in your mind and you are doing things perfectly. While driving at high speed if suddenly a dog comes to road, immediately your body will react to apply break, change gear and press the clutch without much difficulty. At this stage you are driving car with subconscious mind.

What is the conscious mind?
The conscious mind is the part of your mind that is responsible for logic and reasoning. If i asked you about the sum of one plus one; it’s your conscious mind that is going to be used to make that addition.
The conscious mind also controls all the actions that you do on intention while being conscious.The conscious mind is also known to be the gate keeper for the mind. If someone tried to present you with a belief that doesn’t match your belief system then your conscious mind will filter that belief.

What is the subconscious mind?
The subconscious mind is the part of your mind responsible for all of your involuntary actions. Your breathing rate and heart beats are controlled by your subconscious mind.

If you started to control your breath on intention then know that your conscious mind took charge while if you were breathing without being conscious of the breathing process then know that your subconscious mind is in charge.Your emotions are also controlled by your subconscious mind. That’s why you sometimes might feel afraid, anxious or down without wanting to experience such a feeling.
Your subconscious mind is also the place where your beliefs and memories are stored. That’s why affirmations make no sense and can never improve your beliefs. Affirmations are done on a conscious level and are always filtered by the subconscious mind because they usually don’t match your belief system.

When u were learning car then you were doing everything with conscious mind. Gradually – with constant practise and repetition – things started moving from conscious mind to sub conscious mind. When things are stored in subconscious mind then it will happen involuntarily. Then you do not need to think and do; rather it will happen involuntarily.

If good deeds, bad deeds, shameful and evil deeds along with their islamic rulings are stored in our subconscious mind then it will become extremely easy to abstain from evil and shameful deeds. Because then we need not to voluntarily abstain from bad deeds rather our subconscious mind would be programmed in such a way that it will automatically react as per ruling of Quran.

Programming your subconscious can be done through hypnosis. Salah or Namaz is probably the best form of hypnosis.

Trance
The state of hypnosis is exactly the same as the state you experience when you stay in bed just before you fall asleep. Its the state of being half awake. This state is called trance state,during the trance state the conscious mind becomes a little dormant .The subconscious gains more control and thus makes you receptive to suggestions because the conscious mind no longer filters data. Salah should be offered in a manner that through trance a devotee fills his subconscious mind with Quranic teachings.
….Here. Here is the crux of the article.

You may be guessing why i am being psychologist? Namaz or Salah has to do lot with these things. Salah is a programming to store more information in subconscious mind.

D. How Salah  prevents from the immorality and evil deeds?

In the beginning it would be difficult but with passage of time the following practise would make a person really offer salah in a way prescribed by Allah. With constant practise the salah would really prevent shameful and evil deeds.

A. Offering a Salah will take around 5-10 minutes time. Five times salah in a day will make 30-40 minutes.

B. Salah need to be offered with the concentration that Allah is seeing me.

C. Devotee is trying to empty his mind. He is preventing any other thought to enter his brain.

D. In the silence; Recitation of Quran is going on (either by the imam or the devotee himself). Devotee understands the meaning of ayah recited.

E. A situation of trance is created wherein ayah of Quran – that is recited in salah – is being received in subconscious mind. It is the subconscious mind that is storing information from the Quran. If the person understand arabic then he will store information in his subconscious mind that:
1. Alcohol is prohibited. If recitation of Quran, 5:90 was going on.

2. All doors for shameful activities are closed for a believer. he should not approach anything that may lead to immorality. If recitation of Quran, 17:32; 24:2 or 6:151 was going on.

3. Killing of innocents is absolutely forbidden. If recitation of Quran, 5:32 was going on.

4. One MUST respect his parents and should not express any word of disrespect. If recitation of Quran, 17:23 was going on.

5. One MUST stand for justice. If recitation of Quran, 11:112 was going on.
 
6. One MUST abstain from gambling. If recitation of Quran, 5:90-91 was going on.

7. One MUST not indulge in lending money on interest. If recitation of Quran, 2:278 was going on.

8. One MUST not steal. If recitation of Quran, 5:38 was going on.
 
9. One MUST not LIE. If recitation of Quran, 6:24 was going on.

10. One MUST not bribe.If recitation of Quran, 2:188 was going on.

11.One MUST guard his/her modesty. If recitation of Quran, 24:30-31 was going on.
……..
and so onnnnnnnnnnn

When a person has REALLY offered salah with the above understanding and practise (Please keep in mind – he is developing God consciousness also by imagining that Allah is seeing him.) then it will become extremely easy for him to abstain from shameful and evil things.

1. When someone will offer him wine then he will NOT think with conscious mind whether i should drink alcohol or not rather his subconscious mind will tell him that alcohol is prohibited for a believer in God. Automatically he will reject the offer.

2. When he would glance at attractive, beautiful girl then he will NOT think with conscious mind whether i should continue looking at girl or not. Rather his subconscious mind will take away his gaze. This will happen automatically.

3. When someone offered him bribe then he will NOT think with conscious mind whether i should accept it or not rather his subconscious mind will automatically make him reject it.

4. When he has to decide or judge in a matter involving his relative and neighbor then he will NOT think with conscious mind that he should favor his relative; rather his subconscious mind will make him do justice.

5. When someone will allure him for giving false witness in court then again subconscious mind will automatically reject it.

This is how “Indeed Prayer prevents from the immorality and evil deeds. Quran, Surah An kabut 29:45″

D. Best form of meditation is Salah or Namaz

Voluntarily prayer or nafil salah:
Instruction of the Prophet Muhammad was that one need to offer nafil salah at home. In mosque when imam is reciting Quran then subconscious minds of those offering Salah is being filled with Quranic commandments. This is practise of hypnosis is in congregation. The same practise of hypnosis need to be done alone by an individual. Nafil salah was the best way for it and muslims were supposed to program themselves through nafil salah individually.

When it is said about some devotees of God, some sufia-e-ekraam (Respected soofees) that they “saw” God everywhere – that does not mean they were actually seeing God. Rather, these sufia-e-ekraam had developed such a great level of God consciousness that every time they could FEEL the presence of God. Through Salah and other ibadat (worship) they developed God consciousness to such a level that every time they had the feeling that God is seeing them and God is just their with them. No one ever claimed to see God.

Lot of importance is given on meditation in Hinduism. Through meditation our Hindu brethren want to achieve peace of mind and good qualities in their life. As explained above – Namaz or Salah is the best form of meditation. It contains many asan or postures as prescribed in meditation. Many sects in Hinduism has upheld this methodology of concentration, hypnosis, trance etc. Brahmakumaris – one of the sect of Hinduism – is the best example for it. At their center they also achieve it through rajyog. If one go into detail then one will find it perfectly on line with salah. Details of this is beyond the scope of article.

However, through salah or namaz one achieve a higher level of God consciousness. Teachings of God are more imbibed in the subconscious mind and one will attain real peace and happiness. My request to Non muslims! Give a chance to it.

E. Conclusion

1. Salah or namaz or prayer is one of the most important aspect of islam.
2. Unfortunately most of us do not give its due importance to salah. We argue and fight on trivial issue over salah.
3. The soul of salah is lost, concentration is more on the body of salah.
4. The purpose of salah was “Indeed Prayer prevents from the immorality and evil deeds. Quran, Surah An kabut 29:45“. However we see many muslims offering 5 times “salah” and yet indulging in so many sinful activities. It means either muslims are not offering the salah required by Allah or quran is wrong when it claims that if you offer salah then you will be prevented from doing wrong things.
5. One need to offer salah with the imagination that Allah is seeing him. The Quran being recited should go to his subconscious mind.
6. When things are stored in subconscious mind then automatically person will respond accordingly.

Note: * If you don’t agree with the article then instead of giving fatwa of deviation / kufr / shirk / biddat – have faith in Allah and leave it to him to judge.

* Author: Khurshid Imam is software engineer at Bangalore, India. For any criticism / feedback / suggestion feel free to mail – serviceforhumanity@gmail.com

The article can be found at: http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/
The article can be downloaded as pdf from: http://www.scribd.com/KHURSHIDIMAM

Jesus is NOT dead and will come again – part 2

This article is to clarify some misunderstanding regarding second coming of Jesus. I wrote the article: “Jesus is NOT dead and will come again”. It can be found http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/2012/06/jesus-dead-or-alive.htmlA sister posed some questions in response to my article – below is her question and my answer. It should be clear beyond doubt to all those who believe in Quran that Jesus is NOT dead and will come again.

Question 1.
O ‘Îsa (Jesus)! I will take you and raise you to Myself and clear you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to Me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute.” Quran, Surah Al-Imran 3:55


“raise you to Myself” – we believe that Allah is beyond space and time. not in the sky literally. then how can we take that ‘raise’ as a physical raise?
nay, God exalted him unto Himself – and God is indeed almighty, wise. -Quran 4:158
God exalted him unto Himself in the above verse denotes the elevation of Jesus to the realm of God’s special grace – a blessing in which all prophets partake, as is evident from 19:57, where the verb rafa nahu (“We exalted him”) is used with regard to the Prophet Idris
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Answer:
A. Re-reading 3:55 with correct translation- And (remember) when Allah said: “O ‘Îsa (Jesus)! I will give you wafaat and raise you to myself and clear you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute.” Quran, Surah Al-Imran 3:55

No one is meaning here the Hindu concept of merging of AATMA into PARMAATMA. Of course Allah is beyond time and space but where this ayah is contradicting it? When Allah says he raised jesus unto him then does it mean Jesus MERGED into Allah!!! No. Jesus was taken – at least – out of this planet earth – so simple.

Let me give am example: Very often muslims say “Inna lillahe wa inna ilaihe rajeoun” (Quran 2:156) What does it means? Its simple translation is “‘Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return'”

Now with the phrase – “we belong to God and to Him shall we return” what does one mean? Can i say “We shall return to Allah; How can we PHYSICALLY go near to to or INTO Allah? How can we return to ALLAH when he is beyond time and space?” One will laugh at my argument. All we understand is that Allah sent us to this world and Allah took us away from this world. No one think that “to him we shall return” means actually, physically going unto Allah.

“Raise you to myself” means taking Jesus away – at least – from this world.

Now is u ask me “tell me where EXACTLY at what location Jesus was taken”; then i will humbly tell you ” I don’t know”.

B. Also u forgot to point out another “mistake” in this ayah- This ayah 3:55 also says – “ilayya marjiʿukum” i.e “To me is your return”. Here also can u say that “To me is your return” is referring to PHYSICALLY going to Allah when Allah is beyond time and space!!!!!!! See the irony. One part is saying “raising to Allah” and another part is saying “returning to Allah” but objection is only on first part!!!!! 🙂

None of two parts are telling that Returning or raising to Allah means PHYSICALLY going unto Allah.

C. The arabic word “warafiAAuka” does mean to RAISE. Most of the times it will be physical raising, like when Quran quotes Abraham and his son RAISING the kaba there also word RAFA is used. Similarly we use the word RAFIADAIN raising both hands in namaz. How and where Allah raised to Jesus we don’t know. But for sure he raised him, its exact nature we may not know today. Just like we don’t know exactly how Jesus took birth without any male intervention. So if one cannot prove HOW Jesus could take birth without a father can one deny Jesus birth in a manner mentioned in Quran??????

D. This ayah is giving EXACT sequence of events believed by muslims for century and which is more logical and factual. Look at the chronological order of events:

O ‘Îsa (Jesus)! I will give you wafaat and raise you to myself and clear you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute. Quran 3:55. Look at the each term

1. O ‘Îsa (Jesus)! I will give you wafaat – This happened around 2000 years back
2. raise you to myself – Happened immediately after event 1. He was raised – exactly how? We don’t know.
3. clear you of those who disbelieve – Second coming of Jesus. He will clear his correct position, his correct teachings.He Will proclaim that he did not ask people to worship him.
4. I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection – his followers will dominate TILL resurrection, he and his followers will defeat dajjal. Then Qiyamah will come.
5. Then you will return to me – everyone will be returned to Allah. Everyone will be raised up again.
6. I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute – On judgement day Allah will make clear to everyone what was right and what was wrong. Those Christians who worshipped him will realize that they were wrong in faith.

Does not above chronological events sound logical and factual?

E. Last but not least – If u look at the universe then our earth is just a negligible spherical entity.
Anything that is going outside this earth – will be referred as RAISING
Anything that is going inside or towards this Earth – will be referred as FALLING or GOING DOWN
So when Jesus is going out of this earth (at any place in this immense universe or if he is being converted into energy outside this earth – Allah knows the best) then obviously word “RAISED UP” is the most appropriate. Alhamdulillah Quran uses the terms that puzzle us!!!!!!

So Jesus was raised up means he was taken away from this earth.
Remember – his coming to earth and going away from earth – both are miracles. Though you agree with the first part but deny second part.
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Question 2. Jesus was not killed or crucified as planned by the Jews. i wonder if there’s any muslim who claims otherwise….i.e. that jews had killed him??
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Answer: U r right – no muslim believe that Jesus was KILLED by Jews. But Christians DO believe in this. Actually ur words answer ur many questions. This is 4:157 and if u read 4:157-159 then we get everything crystal clear.
Answer to this question will be clearer in next argument.

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Question 3. And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but surely he believes in him, before his death. And on the Day of Resurrection, he will be a witness against them (Quran, Surah Nisa 4:159)


In your words ‘It means that there will be no Jews / Christians left before the death of Jesus who will NOT believe in him, his real status, and his real teachings. In simple words all Christians will accept the real faith regarding Jesus i.e. real teachings of Jesus which is nothing but islam.”
If ppl believed in ‘Jesus’ why should be a witness AGAINST them? Is jesus AGAINST muslims?!
the earlier verses are talking about crucifixion, so the ‘bihi’ which you translated as ‘him’, should be ‘IT’. meaning crucifixion…..and we know that Christians and Jews do believe in death by crucifixion.
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Answer
A> Explaining the meaning of the word “bihi” a site says – “The seventh word of verse (4:159) is divided into 2 morphological segments. A preposition and personal pronoun. The prefixed preposition bi is usually translated as “with” or “by”. The personal pronoun is third person masculine singular. Together the segments form a preposition phrase known as jār wa majrūr (جار ومجرور). bihi – in him ” So the word “BIHI” means IN HIM and not in it.

B> Just read 4:157-159 everything is clear.
4:157 – Allah makes clear that Jesus was not killed or crucified.

This information is meant MORE for those Christians who believe in otherwise. Those jews thought that they had killed Jesus. Today’s Christians also believe that Jesus died on the cross. This disbelief will continue till…… 4:159 answers

4:158 – He was RAISED up by Allah.
Precisely when he was raised? I don’t know!! How EXACTLY he was raised? I don’t know!!
To which location he was raised? I don’t know!!

Look at the last 4 words at the end of this ayah.”wakāna l-lahu ʿazīzan ḥakīman” – And Allah is Almighty All wise. Probably these 4 arabic words also refer to the truth of Jesus-being-raised-up. Allah is telling that he is almighty. You may think it is difficult to raise Jesus – but Allah is Almighty. You may wonder why he raised jesus – Allah is all wise. Subhan Allah!!!! After telling that jesus was raised up – IMMEDIATELY ALLAH tells that Allah is Almighty and All wise.

4:159 – And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but surely he believes in him, before his death. And on the Day of Resurrection, he will be a witness against them.
Before death of Jesus no ahle kitab will be left who will not believe in Jesus – his real teachings.
On the day of resurrection jesus will be a witness against those JEWS and CHRISTIANS who believed in his death-at-cross (refer to 4:157)

Reading IN CONTEXT we refer 4:157-159 and it is clear that Jesus will be witness against those Christians and Jews who will have wrong belief regarding him. What was the wrong belief? This is answered in 4:157 that “Jesus was killed’.

4:157 is saying that this is wrong belief that Jesus was killed. 4:159 is saying that Jesus will be a witness against those people. Problem is that with the word “them” you are meaning those ahle kitab who will be his follower.

C> Probably none of scholars described “layu’minanna” as “believe in crucifixion” as u r pointing here. I believe u have taken this meaning from a particular site which is supporter of Jesus-is-dead theory. Just to prove its theory that site has given the WRONG meaning of “bihi”. All scholars have taken the meaning of “layu’minanna” in reference to either as “believe in jesus before death of jesus” OR “believe in Jesus before death of ahle kitab”.

Imam Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 310) said in his Tafsir (6:18-21): “Commentators differ on the meaning of this verse (4:159), some saying that it means ‘believe in `Isa before `Isa’s death’.” opinions:
1. It means before death of Jesus- Abd al-Razzaq (d. 211) in his Tafsir (1:177-178) cites reports from al-Kalbi, Qatada, and al-Hasan stating that it means “believe in `Isa before `Isa’s death,”. Ibn `Abbas, al-Hasan, Qatada, Abu Malik, and others Sufyan al-Thawri, Tafsir (p. 98) and al-Tabari in his Tafsir Ibn Kathir (d. 774) in his Tafsir (1:367):
2. It means before death of jew/christian- a report from Shahr ibn Hawshab that it means “believe in `Isa before the death of the Jew or Christian. Ubay, Mujahid (Tafsir 1:180-181), `Ikrima, al-Dahhak, al-Hasan, Muhammad ibn Sirin. al-Suyuti in al-Durr al-Manthur (2:733).
3. believe in Muhammad – blessings and peace upon him – before the death of the Jew or Christian- Ikrima

To say that “layu’minanna” refers to believe in crucifixion is absolutely absurd and falsehood having no basis at all. Meaning given by you is grammatically incorrect.

D> There are hadees that describes a prophet and people being witness against people of a Prophet. Does it mean being witness against ALL people??? Obviously NOT. “Witness against those people” means people who will reject him; people who were wrongdoers. For example – refer to Sahih bukhari (Book #55, Hadith #555). Not going into detail of the hadees now.

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Question 4. O `Isa, son of Maryam! Did you say unto men: `Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah”’ He will say: “Glory be to You! It was not for me to say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, You would surely have known it. You know what is in my inner self though I do not know what is in Yours, truly, You, only You, are the Knower of all that is hidden and unseen.”. “Never did I say to them ought except what You (Allah) did command me to say: `Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them while I dwelled amongst them, but when You took me up , You were the Watcher over them, and you are a Witness to all things. Quran, Surah Maidah 5:116-117
According to you, “For centuries Jesus will be worshipped by Christians and only when he will come second time that they will stop worshipping me.” but Quran doesn’t say that 🙂
jesus says ‘but when You took me up , You were the Watcher over them’. he should have completed the answer as “…but when i came down again, i saw them worshipping me, but i stopped that“.
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Answer: Sister – again u r making the same mistake. Just tell me one simple thing – cannot Jesus be a witness against those people who worshipped him considering him God? Why he cannot be witness against those people. Don’t you know that on qiyamah everyone will be held accountable for his deeds? Then why those Christians – who will worship Jesus as God (living on th earth between departure and second coming of jesus) – will not be told about their crime???

I think this answer u have borrowed from javed ghamdi sahab video :)))

5:116-117 is clearly referring to those Christians who worshipped him considering him to be God. Now how does this meaning contradict with the second coming of Jesus???
a. Jesus took birth on the earth. He preached islam. few followed him.
b. He departed from this world NOT died.
c. St.paul and Church made Jesus as divine and son of god. Those people who believed in this were on wrong path.
d. Jesus will appear again before the end of world and clear wrong concepts. Ahle kitab will believe in him

On the qiyamah, people described in point C will be referred as mentioned in 5:116-117

You quoted: jesus says ‘but when You took me up , You were the Watcher over them’. he should have completed the answer as “…but when i came down again, i saw them worshipping me, but i stopped that”.

Jesus will not say what u said because Jesus was not present with those Christians who worshipped him for centuries or may be for lakh of years. He would clarify his real status to ONLY those Christians who would be dwelling on the earth that time. How he will speak to dead Christians who had passed away? Do u means those Christians who worshipped him will not be held accountable?? 🙂

You quoted: according to you, “For centuries Jesus will be worshipped by Christians and only when he will come second time that they will stop worshipping me.” but Quran doesn’t say that 🙂
Please read 4:159 with the exact arabic word and u will find my statement true. If u r referring to wrong arabic meaning then i cannot help. 🙂
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Question 5. Soon will we SHOW THEM our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls (plural of NAFS), until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?” Quran, Surah Fusilat, 41:53
We will show them” or “make them see…..make them fully understand….i didn’t understand how u r connecting it to Jesus’ second coming?
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Answer: Sister: This ayah i quoted to show that Sign of Allah will be presented to human being so much so that they believe that Allah is truth and so his teachings. it is not particular for jesus issue. You misunderstood. Today Quran is a sign of Allah. Everything around us is sign of Allah. Birth of jesus was sign of Allah and coming of Jesus will be sign of Allah.

Note: * If you don’t agree with the mail then instead of giving fatwa of deviation / kufr / shirk / biddat – have faith in Allah and leave it to him to judge.

* Author: Khurshid Imam is software engineer at Bangalore, India. For any criticism / feedback / suggestion feel free to mail – serviceforhumanity@gmail.com

The article can be found at: http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/
The article can be downloaded as pdf from: http://www.scribd.com/KHURSHIDIMAM

Jesus – dead or alive?

Jesus is NOT dead and will come again

by Khurshid Imam

A. Introduction

Prophet Jesus is one of the messengers of Almighty God. He propagated teachings of God. Those who followed him were Muslims. His mother – Maryam – holds highest level of honor in Islam. Birth of Jesus was a miracle for people. Prophet Jesus was born without any male intervention. Like his birth – his departure also appears to be a miracle. Neither he was killed as planned by the Jews, nor did he DIE. He was raised up by almighty God.

However, some people have doubts regarding his departure. A few muslims (including very few scholars) believe that Jesus died!!! This belief is not because of any wrong intention, but because of some misunderstanding. With due respect to opinion holders of such belief – the following article will make it crystal clear that Jesus did not die and he will come again.

B. Quran clearly proves that Jesus is NOT dead.

Let’s analyze those ayah which is used by people to prove that Jesus died.

1. Jesus did not die – Quran, Surah Al-Imran 3:55

إِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يعِيسَى إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَىَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَـمَةِ ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ فِيمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ

Ith qala Allahu ya AAeesa innee mutawaffeeka warafiAAuka …….

And (remember) when Allah said: “O ‘Îsa (Jesus)! I will take you and raise you to Myself and clear you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to Me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute.” Quran, Surah Al-Imran 3:55

Note: probably – none of the Quran translation (English and urdu at least) gives the complete gist of the arabic word “mutawaffeeka” due to which the chaos.

Supporter of Jesus-is-dead say – “The verse in 3:55 Allah uses a word which means death or termination of life. … “O Jesus! I shall cause you to die and I shall exalt you towards me….. In order to fulfill the prophecy, first death will happen, second, he will be raised. Allah did not say He will raise Isa in any manner before his death. This argument is based on the key word ‘wafat’. The meaning of “wafat” is death, or takes away soul. If soul is taken away from a person, it is nothing but death. The problem arises when with regards to this verse; Muslims refuse to interpret the meaning of “wafat” as death. Irony is that all scholars who translated the Holy Quran do agree “wafat” means death. They translated the word “wafat” as death in at least 20 different instances. However, in this particular verse, they interpreted the meaning as ‘take away’ and insinuate physical ascension..”

Using above argument – that arabic word “wafaat” means death – some people say that Jesus is dead as per 3:55. Now this misunderstanding is because of not grasping the complete meaning of the arabic word “wafaat”.

Secret of Wafaat and maut (death) revealed

Wafaat and maut (death) – are not identical terms. Quran has maintained difference between these two words. To be short and precise – let us see what Allah has told about wafaat.

اللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى الاٌّنفُسَ حِينَ مِوْتِـهَا وَالَّتِى لَمْ تَمُتْ فِى مَنَامِـهَا فَيُمْسِكُ الَّتِى قَضَى عَلَيْهَا الْمَوْتَ وَيُرْسِلُ الاٍّخْرَى إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى إِنَّ فِى ذَلِكَ لاّيَـتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

Allahu yatawaffa alanfusa heena mawtiha………………………………

It is Allah Who takes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for a people who think deeply. Quran, Surah Zumur 39:42 (Ibn Kaseer Translation)

Please concentrate on arabic words; above translation may not give you the exact content of this ayah. Re-reading the above ayah –

“It is Allah Who causes WAFAAT (or give WAFAAT) to NAFS (plural of nafs is mentioned) at the time of their MAUT (death), and those that die (MAUT) not during their sleep. He keeps those (NAFS) for which He has ordained MAUT (death) and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for a people who think deeply”

The miracle and secrets of this ayah will be revealed – but the condition is we need to think deeply – as described at the end of this ayah.

Also-give a look at this ayah:

…….وَهُوَ الَّذِى يَتَوَفَّـكُم بِالَّيْلِ Wahuwa allathee yatawaffakum biallayli….

It is He, Who causes WAFAAT by night (referring to the sleep)….. (Quran, Surah An’am 6:60)

Pondering over these two ayah –
1. At death and during sleep – a nafs (or an individual being) undergoes WAFAAT. Allah takes NAFS of a person when he dies and when he sleeps.
2. When a person dies then NAFS is held back by Allah. When a person is sleeping then nafs is returned finally.
3. So maut or death is a TYPE of wafaat. Death is always a wafaat but all wafaat need not be death.

Wafaat is super set of maut (death). For example: Every banglorean is an indian but every indian need not be a banglorean. Similarly every death (maut) is wafaat but NOT every wafaat is death. There are wafaat in which a person does not die; for ex- Sleep.

Note: Skipping the difference of words NAFS and RUH. For details wait for the article: Difference between ruh and nafs.

With the better understanding of the word wafaat let us come back to 3:55. Please note – here also Allah has used the word wafaat and NOT maut (death). If word maut was used here then supporters of Jesus-is-dead were right, but see the wisdom of Quran – Allah has used word wafaat here and NOT maut.

Re-reading 3:55 – And (remember) when Allah said: “O ‘Îsa (Jesus)! I will give you wafaat and raise you to myself and clear you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute.” Quran, Surah Al-Imran 3:55

So this ayah says:
1. Allah will give wafaat to Jesus. He will not die rather undergo wafaat.
2. And Allah will raise him.
3. Jesus will be clear of all wrong allegations against him; viz: he is God or son of God. When he will come second time on earth he will make clear to christians that he did not teach trinity or he is God or he is son of God.
4. After death – all will be returned to Allah (on Qiyamah) and on the Day of Judgment Allah will judge between those who truly believed and followed Jesus and those who made wrong belief regarding him.

2. Jesus is yet to die – Quran, Surah Nisa 4:157-159

A. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:157

…….وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ

Waqawlihim inna qatalna almaseeha AAeesa ibna maryama rasoola Allahi wama qataloohu wama salaboohu walakin shubbiha lahum…….

Due to some mistranslation this ayah tries to give another distorted picture.

Supporter of Jesus-is-dead says – “Hilali and Khan: “And because of their saying (in boast) “We killed Messiah Isa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah,” -but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of Isa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man)….Please note carefully, Hilali and Khan translated the Arabic wa lakin subbiha lahum as “but the resemblance of Isa (Jesus) was put over another man”. In the Arabic text given above, where are the words “of Isa” and “another man”? Surprisingly Hilali and Khan put interpolated words inside the translation suggesting that these were “revealed text”. This is nothing but gross corruption. Yusuf Ali, Pichthall, Shakir, Rodwell, and many others did not commit such extreme corruption.”

It is true that some muslims have believed in the fiction’s story that someone resembling with Jesus was put to die on cross. wa lakin subbiha lahum does NOT mean that someone resembling with Jesus was put to death. The arabic word shubbiha implies that those Jews thought / understood that they had killed Jesus. Details of this event are beyond the scope of this article. Without going into one thing for sure is that Jesus was not killed or crucified as planned by the Jews.

B. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:158

………بَل رَّفَعَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ Bal rafaAAahu Allahu ilayhi……

he was raised by Allah

C. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:159

وَإِن مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ إِلاَّ لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ يَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيداً

Wain min ahli alkitabi illa layuminanna bihi qabla mawtihi……

And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but surely he believes in him, before his death. And on the Day of Resurrection, he will be a witness against them

This Ayah acts as the last nail in the coffin of Jesus-is-dead theory. Reading 4:157-159 we see that Allah is talking about Jesus, his survival and he being raised up and then in 4:159 God says that “And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but must believe in him, before his death.” It means that there will be no Jews / Christians left before the death of Jesus who will NOT believe in him, his real status, and his real teachings. In simple words all Christians will accept the real faith regarding Jesus i.e. real teachings of Jesus which is nothing but islam.
Here some people try to twist and say that “before his death” does not refer to death of Jesus rather death of Ahle kitab or Jews and Christians; hence Jesus is already dead. Ok! If this is true then it means every Jew and Christian – who lived during the time of Jesus (and as per you Jesus is dead) believed in Jesus!!! Is it true? No. We know that hardly a few followed him before his departure; most of them rejected him; Jews rejected him and tried to kill him. This ayah will hold true ONLY if Jesus is NOT dead and before his death there will be no ahle kitab left who will not have emaan (the real faith).

1. 4:159 makes clear that before the death of Jesus no jew/christian will be left who will be not momin. It means Jesus is yet to die.

2. Christians will believe in him and understand his real teachings; they will reject wrong faith viz: trinity, son of God and will accept real faith.

3. During that time only dajjal will appear for whom Jews have been waiting. Jews will accompany dajjal and in the subsequent fight jews and army of dajjal will be killed.

4. So we will have Christians as believers and Jews killed before the death of Jesus. This will prove “And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but must believe in him, before his death” true. This also explains that hadees of Bukhari (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 43: Kitab-ul-`Ilm (Book of Knowledge), Hâdith Number 656:) which says that Jesus will abolish Jaziya. Jaziya will be abolished because there will be no one left for giving jazia as all will be momin.

C. Some clarifications

وَإِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يعِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ أَءَنتَ قُلتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِى وَأُمِّىَ إِلَـهَيْنِ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ قَالَ سُبْحَـنَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِى أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِى بِحَقٍّ إِن كُنتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِى نَفْسِى وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ مَا فِى نَفْسِكَ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلَّـمُ الْغُيُوبِ – مَا قُلْتُ لَهُمْ إِلاَّ مَآ أَمَرْتَنِى بِهِ أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبَّكُمْ وَكُنتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيداً مَّا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِى

And (remember) when Allah will say (on the Day of Resurrection): “O `Isa, son of Maryam! Did you say unto men: `Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah”’ He will say: “Glory be to You! It was not for me to say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, You would surely have known it. You know what is in my inner self though I do not know what is in Yours, truly, You, only You, are the Knower of all that is hidden and unseen.”. “Never did I say to them ought except what You (Allah) did command me to say: `Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them while I dwelled amongst them, but when You took me up (when you gave me WAFAAT-look at the arabic word “tawaffaytanī“). , You were the Watcher over them, and you are a Witness to all things. Quran, Surah Maidah 5:116-117

This ayah is talking about the day of resurrection or judgement day. Supporters of Jesus-is-dead say – “If Jesus is alive today and will come before qiyamah then why:
His people will worship him (when he had recently come to earth) ?
Why he will tell that he did not command such thing, neither he know what wrong they have done?”

But supporters of Jesus-is-dead are mistaken. This ayah is referring to those Christians who worshipped him considering him God. For centuries Jesus will be worshipped by Christians and only when he will come second time that they will stop worshipping me. So this ayah is talking about those people who lived before his second coming and worshipped him. Also previously we have seen that before his death all Christians will become believer.

Please note “tawaffaytanī” at the end of ayah which is translated wrongly as “took me up”. Here also – Allah did NOT mention that “when i gave you maut (death)”; rather ayah is speaking about WAFAAT. We have seen earlier that wafaat need not be maut or death. See the beauty of Quran, how carefully Allah has used each word in the Quran. This is one of the miracle fo Quran – choice of exact word!!!!!!!!

And Muhammad is no more than a messenger THE MESSENGERS HAVE ALREADY PASSED BEFOER HIM. if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels!s, he will by no means do harm to Allah in the least and Allah will reward the grateful. Quran, Surah Al imran 3:144

Quoting this ayah some people try to prove that this ayah is referring that all messengers before Prophet Muhammad has DIED hence Jesus is also dead. But here also people are making mistake. Look at the Arabic word “khalat”; it means “passed away”.It does not signify “messenegers are already DEAD”. Allah has not used word MAUT or death. Of course even Jesus has passed away or left, but not died.

D. Last – but not least

We know that most of life of Jesus is unknown to the world. We know about his birth, childhood and then as youth before his departure. Clear account of most of his life is unknown. Some historians have tried to prove that jesus did come to india; especially kashmir. Bhawishya puran has very clear refernce of prophet Jesus in himalaya region. All this might be correct. These information do not contradict with anything that i mentioned above. He may or may not have come to india – but one thing is for sure i.e. he did not die.

I strictly believe that no one is prophet after Prophet Muhammad – so all others are bound to err. A few muslim; who hold the belief that Jesus is dead – may have good intention – but they are mistaken because Quran speaks against the theory of Jesus-is-dead.
He will come again before the qiyamah. However, his second coming will not look like mythological story or a plain magic. His second coming will be accepted by the people as a genuine possibility. I – Khurshid imam – say with the full conviction that science will advance to such level that time that it will be within the range of possibility that time that human body could be converted into energy and then brought back into human body after long time. I – khurshid imam – say that it will be possible in future to stop time for a human being under certain conditions and Jesus today may or may not be in that condition. Remember – second coming of Jesus will be before the end of time so science would have reached to its highest level by that time.

Coming of Jesus here and going of Jesus from here – both are miracles for people.

“Soon will we show them our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls (plural of NAFS), until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?” Quran, Surah Fusilat, 41:53

For more on the topic – Jesus: dead or alive – kindly read http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/2012/06/jesus-is-not-dead-and-will-come-again.html

E. Conclusion

1. Prophet Jesus is one of the messeneger of Allah. We love him like we love Prophet Muhammad.

2. Jesus was not killed nor he died, rather he was raised up by Almighty god.

3. He will come again before the end of world and then he will die.

4. Quran makes it ample clear that Jesus has undergone wafaat and NOT death.

Note: * If you don’t agree with the mail then instead of giving fatwa of deviation / kufr / shirk / biddat – have faith in Allah and leave it to him to judge.

* Author: Khurshid Imam is software engineer at Bangalore, India. For any criticism / feedback / suggestion feel free to mail – serviceforhumanity@gmail.com

The article can be found at: http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/
The article can be downloaded as pdf from: http://www.scribd.com/KHURSHIDIMAM