Qualities of Aisha and herrole in Islam

(Note: The name spelt in this article as Aisha is properly
transliterated as'Á'ishah)
Qualities of Aisha and herrole in Islam
In any discussion on the age of Aisha (ra: may Allah be pleased with
her) at the time of her marriage with the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may
peace and the blessings of Allah be upon him), it is of the greatest
relevance to note the pivotal role she played as a teacher, exponent
and interpreterof the religion of Islam. Aisha was an exceptionally
intelligent and astute woman, a young prodigy, and this was the main
reason whyshe was got married to the Holy Prophet, as is clearly
proved by events after the Holy Prophet's life. She entered his
household, shortly after his emigration to Madina,just at the time
when the teachings of Islam in all fields of life for the Muslim
community were starting to be revealed tothe Holy Prophet and
demonstrated by him by his example and practice.An intellectually
gifted person was required who would have daily contact with the Holy
Prophet at the closest and most personal level, so as to absorb the
teachings that he was giving on all aspects of life by his words and
actions. Such a person would need to possess the following qualities:
an excellent, precise memory to retain a vast amount of detail accurately,
the understanding to grasp the significance and the principles of the teachings,
powers of reasoning, criticism and deduction to resolve problems on
the basis of those teachings,
the skills to convey knowledge to a wide range of audience,
and, finally, have the prospect of living for a considerable period of
time after the death of the Holy Prophet in orderto spread his message
to distant generations.
That Aisha possessed all these qualities and carried out this mission
isan absolutely positive and undeniable, historical fact. After the
Holy Prophet's death, she acted as a teacher and interpreter of Islam,
providing guidance to even the greatest of the male Companions of the
Holy Prophet Muhammad.They made a special point of going to her to
gain knowledge and seek her opinion. A vast number of sayings and
actions of the Holy Prophet are reported from her in books of Hadith.
She not only quoted his sayings and reported her observations of
events, but interpreted them to provide solutions to questions.
Whenever necessary, she corrected the views of the greatest of the
Companions of the Holy Prophet. She made rulings and judgments onwhich
Islamic law is based.
The following are two examples of what the Holy Prophet's male
Companions said about her:
"Abu Musa said: Whenever there was any hadith that was difficult [to
understand] for us, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, and we
asked Aisha we always found that she had knowledge about that hadith."
"Musa ibn Talha said: I never saw anyone more eloquent than Aisha." [1]
In the famous compilation of the lives of saints in Islam,
Tadhkirat-ul-Auliya, the author Farid-ud-Din Attar, who lived eight
centuries ago, introducesthe life of the early female saint Rabia of
Basra as follows:
"If anyone says, 'Why have you included Rabia in the rank of men?', my
answer is that the Prophet himself said, 'God does not regard your
outward forms'. … Moreover, if it is proper to derive two-thirds of
our religion from Aisha, surely it is permissible to take religious
instruction from a handmaid of Aisha." [2]
It is thus recognised, from the earliest times in Islam, that some
two-thirds of Islamic Sharia is based on reports and interpretations
that have come from Aisha.
In view of these exceptional qualities of Aisha and the towering role
played by her in the transmission of the teachings of Islam, it is
simply preposterous and outrageous to suggest that she was the victim
ofsome form of child and marital abuse. We ask in particular the
Christian and Jewish critics of Islam, who are reviling the Holy
Prophet Muhammad on the basis of his marriage with Aisha, whether they
can point out any example of a woman in their religions who played a
role like that of Aisha in learning the religion from its founder and
becoming the teacher and instructor of all his followers, including
men,after his death.
Age of Aisha at time of marriage with Holy Prophet Muhammad
It is believed on the authority of some Hadith reports that the
marriageceremony (known as nikah, amounting to betrothal) of Aisha
with the Holy Prophet Muhammad took place when she was six years of
age, and that she joined the Holy Prophet as his wife three years
later at the age of nine. We quote below from two such reports in
Bukhari.
"It is reported from Aisha that she said: The Prophet entered into
marriage with me when Iwas a girl of six … and at the time [of joining
his household] I was a girl ofnine years of age."
"Khadija died three yearsbefore the Prophet departed to Medina. He
stayed [alone] for two years or so. He married Aisha when she was a
girlof six years of age, and he consummated that marriage when she was
nine years old." [3]
As to the authenticity of these reports, it may be noted that the
compilers of the books of Hadith did not apply the same stringent
tests when accepting reports relating to historical matters as they
did before accepting reports relating to the practical teachings and
laws of Islam. The reason is that the former type of reportwas
regarded as merely of academic interest while the latter type of
report had a direct bearing on the practical duties of a Muslim and
onwhat was allowed to them and what was prohibited. Thus the
occurrence of reports such as the above about the marriage of Aisha in
books of Hadith, even in Bukhari, is not necessarily a proof of their
credibility.
Determination of the trueage of Aisha
It appears that Maulana Muhammad Ali was the first Islamic scholar
directly to challenge the notion that Aisha was aged six and nine,
respectively, at the time of her nikah and consummation of marriage.
This he did in, at least, the following writings: his English booklet
Prophet of Islam, his larger English book Muhammad, the Prophet,and in
the footnotes in his voluminous Urdu translation and commentary of
Sahih Bukhari entitled Fadl-ul-Bari, these three writingsbeing
published in the 1920s and 1930s. In the booklet Prophet of Islam,
which was later incorporated in 1948 as the first chapter of his book
Living Thoughts of the Prophet Muhammad, he writes in a lengthy
footnote as follows:
"A great misconception prevails as to the age at which Aisha was taken
inmarriage by the Prophet. Ibn Sa'd has stated in the Tabaqat that
when Abu Bakr [father of Aisha] was approached on behalf of the Holy
Prophet, he replied that the girl had already beenbetrothed to Jubair,
and that he would have to settle the matter first with him. This shows
thatAisha must have been approaching majority at the time. Again, the
Isaba, speaking of the Prophet's daughter Fatima, says that she was
born five years before the Call and was about five years older than
Aisha. This shows that Aisha must have been about ten years at the
time of her betrothal to the Prophet, and not six years as she is
generally supposed to be. This is further borne out by the fact that
Aisha herself is reported to have stated that when the chapter [of the
Holy Quran] entitled The Moon, the fifty-fourth chapter, was revealed,
she was a girl playing about and remembered certain verses then
revealed. Now the fifty-fourth chapter was undoubtedlyrevealed before
the sixth year of the Call. All these considerations point to but one
conclusion, viz., that Aisha could not havebeen less than ten years of
age at the time of her nikah, which was virtually only a betrothal.
And there is one report inthe Tabaqat that Aisha was nine years of age
at the time of nikah. Again it is a fact admitted on allhands that the
nikah of Aisha took place in the tenth year of the Call in the month
of Shawwal, while there is also preponderance of evidence as to the
consummation of her marriage taking place in the second year of Hijra
in the same month, which shows that full fiveyears had elapsed between
the nikah and the consummation. Hence there is not the least doubt
that Aisha was at least nine or ten years of age at the time of
betrothal, and fourteen or fifteen years at the time of marriage." [4]
(Bolding is mine.)
To facilitate understanding dates of these events, please note that it
was in the tenth year of the Call, i.e. the tenth year after the Holy
Prophet Muhammad received his calling from God to his mission of
prophethood, that his wife Khadija passed away, and the approach was
made to Abu Bakr for the hand of his daughter Aisha. The hijra or
emigration of the HolyProphet to Madina took place three years later,
and Aisha came to the household of the Holy Prophet in the second year
after hijra. So if Aisha was born in the year of the Call, she would
be ten years old atthe time of the nikah andfifteen years old at the
time of the consummation of the marriage.
Later research
Research subsequent to the time of Maulana Muhammad Ali has shown that
she was olderthan this. An excellent short work presenting such
evidence is the Urdupamphlet Rukhsati kai waqt Sayyida Aisha Siddiqa
ki umar ('The ageof Lady Aisha at the time of the start of her married
life') by Abu Tahir Irfani.[4a] Points 1 to 3 below have been brought
to light in this pamphlet.
1. The famous classical historian of Islam, Ibn Jarir Tabari, wrote in
his 'History':
"In the time before Islam,Abu Bakr married two women. The first was
Fatila daughter of Abdul Uzza, from whom Abdullah and Asma were born.
Then he married Umm Ruman, from whomAbdur Rahman and Aisha were born.
These four were born before Islam." [5]
Being born before Islam means being born beforethe Call.
2. The compiler of the famous Hadith collection Mishkat al-Masabih,
ImamWali-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Abdullah Al-Khatib, who died 700 years
ago, has also written brief biographical notes on the narrators of
Hadith reports. He writes under Asma, the older daughterof Abu Bakr:
"She was the sister of Aisha Siddiqa, wife of theHoly Prophet, and was
ten years older than her.… In 73 A.H. … Asma died at the age of one
hundred years." [6]
(Go here to see an image of the full entry in Urdu.)
This would make Asma 28years of age in 1 A.H., the year of the Hijra,
thus making Aisha 18 years old in 1 A.H. So Aisha would be 19 years
old at the time of the consummation of her marriage, and 14 or 15
years old at the time of her nikah. It would place her year of birth
at four or five years before the Call.
3. The same statement is made by the famous classical commentator of
the Holy Quran, Ibn Kathir, in his book Al-bidayya wal-nihaya:
"Asma died in 73 A.H. at the age of one hundred years. She was ten
years older than her sister Aisha." [7]
Apart from these three evidences, which are presented in the Urdu
pamphlet referred to above, we also note that the birth of Aisha being
alittle before the Call is consistent with the opening words of a
statement by her which isrecorded four times in Bukhari. Those words
areas follows:
"Ever since I can remember (or understand things) my parents were
following the religion of Islam." [8]
This is tantamount to saying that she was born sometime before her
parents accepted Islam but she can only remember them practising
Islam. No doubt she and her parents knew well whether she was born
before or after they accepted Islam, as their acceptance of Islam was
such a landmark event in their life which took place just after the
Holy Prophet received his mission from God. If she had been born after
they accepted Islam it would make no sense for her to say that she
always remembered them as following Islam. Only if she was born before
theyaccepted Islam, would it make sense for her to saythat she can
only remember them being Muslims, as she was too young to remember
things before their conversion. This is consistent with her beingborn
before the Call, and being perhaps four or five years old at the time
of the Call, which was also almost the time when her parents accepted
Islam.
Two further evidences cited by Maulana Muhammad Ali
In the footnotes of his Urdu translation and commentary of Sahih
Bukhari, entitled Fadl-ul-Bari, Maulana Muhammad Ali had pointed out
reports of two events which show that Aisha could not havebeen born
later than the year of the Call. These areas follows.
1. The above mentioned statement by Aisha in Bukhari, about her
earliest memory of her parents being that they were followers of
Islam, begins with the following words in its version in Bukhari's
Kitab-ul-Kafalat. We quote this from the English translation of
Bukhari by M. Muhsin Khan:
"Since I reached the age when I could remember things, I have seen my
parents worshipping according to the right faith of Islam. Not a
single day passed but Allah's Apostle visited us both in the morning
and in the evening. When theMuslims were persecuted,Abu Bakr set out
for Ethiopia as an emigrant."[9]
Commenting on this report, Maulana Muhammad Ali writes:
"This report sheds some light on the question of the age of Aisha. …
The mention of the persecution of Muslims along with the emigration to
Ethiopia clearly shows that this refers to the fifth or the sixth year
of the Call. … Atthat time Aisha was of an age to discern things, and
so her birth could not have been later than the first year of the
Call." [10]
Again, this would make her more than fourteen at the time of the
consummation of her marriage.
2. There is a report in Sahih Bukhari as follows:
"On the day (of the battle) of Uhud when (some) people retreated and
left the Prophet, I saw Aisha daughter of Abu Bakr and Umm Sulaim,
with their robes tucked up so that the bangles around their ankles
were visible hurrying with their water skins (in another narration it
is said, 'carrying the water skins on their backs'). Then they would
pour the water in the mouths of the people, and return tofill the
water skins again and came back again to pour water in the mouthsof
the people." [11]
Maulana Muhammad Ali writes in a footnote under this report:
"It should also be noted that Aisha joined the HolyProphet's household
onlyone year before the battle of Uhud. Accordingto the common view
she would be only ten years of age at this time, whichis certainly not
a suitable age for the work she did on this occasion. This alsoshows
that she was not so young at this time." [12]
If, as shown in the previous section above, Aisha was nineteen at
thetime of the consummation of her marriage, then she would be twenty
years old at the time of the battle of Uhud. It may be added that on
the earlier occasion of the battle of Badr when some Muslim youths
tried, out of eagerness, to go along with the Muslim army to the field
of battle, the Holy Prophet Muhammad sent them back on account of
their young age (allowing only one such youngster, Umair ibn Abi
Waqqas, to accompany his older brother the famous Companion Sa'd ibn
Abi Waqqas). It seems, therefore, highly unlikelythat if Aisha was ten
years old the Holy Prophet would have allowed her to accompany the
army to the field of battle.
We conclude from all the evidence cited above that Aisha (may Allah be
pleased with her) was nineteen years old when she joined the Holy
Prophet as his wife in theyear 2 A.H., the nikah or betrothal having
taken place five years previously.
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The Bible on marriage of young girls with much older men
As it is Christian evangelists and other believers in the Bible who
have been bitterly reviling the Holy Prophet Muhammad on account of
his marriage with Aisha, we put to them thepractices of the great
patriarchs and prophets that are recorded in the Bible itself in this
connection. The main accusations regarding the marriage of Aisha
arethat she was too young in age while the Holy Prophet was a much
older man, being fifty years of age, and that consent to marriage was
either not obtained from her or she was not capable of giving it.
Abraham
In the book of Genesis in the Bible it is recorded about Abraham:
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an
Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she saidto Abram, 'The Lord has
kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I
can build a family through her.' Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So
after Abram had been living in Canaan tenyears, Sarai his wife took
her Egyptian maidservantHagar and gave her to her husband to be his
wife. He slept with Hagar,and she conceived. … So Hagar bore Abram a
son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram
was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael." (Genesis,
chapter 16, verses 1–4, and 15–16, New International Version. Bolding
is mine.)
Firstly, it is evident that as Abraham (who then had the name Abram)
was 86 years old, Hagar must have been some fifty years younger than
him, and probably even younger, to bear a child. Secondly, the Bible
speaks of Sarai giving her maidservant Hagar toAbraham. So Hagar's
consent was not obtained but rather she was commanded by Saraito go
and become Abraham's wife.
David
The first book of Kings in the Bible begins as follows:
"When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep
warm even when they put covers over him. So his servants said to him,
'Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of
him. Shecan lie beside him so thatour lord the king may keep warm.'
Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found
Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The girl was very
beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king
had no intimate relations with her." (1 Kings, chapter 1, verses 1–4,
New International Version. Bolding is mine.)
So there seems nothing wrong, according to the Bible, in procuring a
young virgin, again apparently without her consent, whose duties
include lying with the elderly king in bed. The intention was
certainly for sexual enjoyment, otherwise there was no necessity of
looking for a young, beautiful virgin. Amuch older woman, perhaps a
widow, could have performed all these duties, including lying with the
king to keep him warm.
Mary and Joseph
The most famous marriage in Christianity isno doubt that of Mary,
Jesus' mother, with Joseph. While the following details are not in the
canonical Gospels in the Bible, it appears from other early
Christianwritings (known as apocryphal writings) thatMary was twelve
years old when the temple elders decided to find a husband for her.
They selected the husband by drawing lots, and Joseph whom they chose
was an elderly man, being according to some accounts ninety years old.
The husband was selected and Mary was handed over to him, and she
played no part in his selection.
These accounts are summed up in the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913
edition, which is available online, as follows:
"It will not be without interest to recall here, unreliable though
they are, the lengthy stories concerning St. Joseph's marriage
contained in the apocryphal writings. When forty years of age, Joseph
married a womancalled Melcha or Escha by some, Salome by others; they
lived forty-nine years together and had six children … A year afterhis
wife's death, as the priests announced through Judea that they wished
to find in the tribe of Juda a respectable man to espouse Mary, then
twelve to fourteen years of age, Joseph, who was at the time ninety
years old, went up to Jerusalemamong the candidates; a miracle
manifested the choice God had made of Joseph …" [13] (Bolding ismine.)
Although these apocryphal accounts are not now accepted by many
Christians, and the Catholic Encyclopedia says that they "are void of
authority", yet it also speaks of their influence as follows:
"they nevertheless acquired in the course of ages some popularity; in
them some ecclesiastical writers sought the answer to the well-known
difficulty arising from the mention in the Gospel of the Lord's
brothers; from them also popular credulity has, contrary to all
probability, as well as to the tradition witnessed by old works of
art, retained the beliefthat St. Joseph was an oldman at the time of
marriage with the Mother of God."
However, these accounts are accepted by the Eastern churches. The
website of the Ukrainian Orthodoxy has an article on this subject
entitled An Elderly Joseph which agrees with the presentation in the
apocryphal writings "of Joseph as an elderly man,a widower with adult
children". It concludes:
"The Christian East's picture of Joseph as a courageous, faithful,
God-centred elderly widower rings true." [14]
We give below, as Appendix, a quotation from one of these apocryphal
books, The Infancy Gospel of James, describing how Mary's husband was
selected.
While the Western Christian churches may not accept these accountsas
authentic, the Eastern churches in Europe do accept that Mary was 12
years old and Joseph a widower 90 years old when they married.
Moreover, there is nothing in the Gospels of the New Testament to
contradict these accounts, and the Gospel stories are not at all
inconsistent with these ages for Mary and Joseph.
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References
[1]. Tirmidhi, Abwab-ul-Manaqib, i.e. Chapters on Excellences, under
'Virtues of Aisha'.
[2]. Muslim Saints and Mystics, abridged English translation of
Tadhkirat-ul-Auliya, by A.J. Arberry, p. 40.
[3]. Bukhari, Book of Qualities of the Ansar, chapter: 'The Holy
Prophet's marriage with Aisha, and his coming to Madina and the
consummation of marriage with her'. For Muhsin Khan's translation, see
this link and go down to reports listed as Volume 5, Book 58, Number
234 and 236.
[4]. Living Thoughts of the Prophet Muhammad, 1992 U.S.A. edition, p.
30, note 40.
[4a]. This Urdu pamphlet was published by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman
Isha'at Islam, Bombay, India. A partial English translation is
available at this Lahore Ahmadiyya website.
[5]. Tarikh Tabari, vol. 4, p. 50.
[6]. Mishkat al-Masabih, Edition with Urdu translation published in
Lahore, 1986, vol. 3, p. 300–301. (Go here to see an image of the full
entryin Urdu.)
[7]. Vol. 8, p. 346.
[8]. Those four places in Sahih Bukhari are the following:
Kitab-us-Salat, ch. 'A mosque which is in the way but does not
inconvenience people'; Kitab-ul-Kafalat, ch. 'Abu Bakr under the
protection of a non-Muslim in the time ofthe Holy Prophet and his pact
with him'; Kitab Manaqib-ul-Ansar, ch. 'Emigration of the Holy Prophet
and his Companions to Madina'; and Kitab-ul-Adab, ch. 'Should a person
visit everyday, or morning and evening'.
[9]. Muhsin Khan's Englishtranslation of Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 37,
Number 494. See this link.
[10]. Fadl-ul-Bari, vol. 1, p. 501, footnote 1.
[11]. Sahih Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Jihad wal-Siyar, Chapter: 'Women in war
and their fighting alongside men'. See this link in Muhsin Khan's
translation and go down to report listed as Volume4, Book 52, Number
131.
[12]. Fadl-ul-Bari, vol. 1, p. 651.
[13]. In article St. Joseph, under letter J. Here is a link to this
article in the online Catholic Encyclopedia.
[14]. Here is a link to this article An Elderly Joseph.

Munkar Ma'roof (Evil and Good)

Munkar Ma'roof (Evil and Good)
By Maulana I. Suleman
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.
Respected guests, elders, brothers and sisters:
Today, I would like to present an analysis of what is going on in this
world today. From the corners of the world, people are either
complaining about materialism--that they do not have enough of it;
complaining about their children, complaining about the people in
power, complaining about thisor complaining about that. We are
becoming a community of complainers and we are sitting in peace
complaining about thisperson or that person. Every single one of us,
when we are in salah, we do not finish that prayer until we say:
Allahummah inni dhalamtu nafsi dhulman katheera. "OhAllah, the
complain is that about the MIS or MIB or Scotland yard orthe IRS. The
complain is, Oh Lord, I have wronged myself," but straight after
salaam something magic happens that we start talking about other
people. There are two different pictures coming along. On one hand, we
acknowledgein front of our Creator that me, I, myself am toblame, but
when we go outside of salah, westart talking about somebody else. This
is not the teaching of Islam.
What is the game of the day today? The game of the day today is to
change people's minds--how they thinkand how they behave. These
advertising campaigns are no joke.The people who work for these
advertising companies have a Ph.D. in psychology. Psychology is the
art where you learn how to control a person's mind and you see this
coming into play whenwe look at the advertisements. Why does a child,
when they pass McDonald's or Burger King with their father say, "Dad,
I want McDonald's or Burger King. I want a haram burger." Why
everytime do we see a new gadget coming out and Christmas or birthdays
or Father's Day or whatever is coming up and the child sees
advertisements being played and all of a sudden the child comes up and
says,"Dad I want that!" Where do they get this idea from? The
essenceof the ages that many people just fail to understand is what
exactly is going on in this day and age.
Allama Tabrani narrates a hadith in hismu'jam. The Prophet (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam) said to his companions who wereassembled in a
gathering like you people are assembled over here: "What will be your
situation, whatwill be the framework of your mind when a good thing,
when ma'roof will become munkar (evil)?" Evil will become good.
Roguishness will become righteousness.Falsehood will becomerighthood.
Lies will become good. The Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) told
us about this age that was going to come. Munkar, deviation,
evil,falsehood, vanity, will become good. Just to give you one
example, in 1999 in the UK, there was a decision made in the House of
Lords that there was a couple, well they calledthemselves a couple of
gay orientation and these two males lived together for 20 years in a
council owned house. One of them died. According to British law and
council tenancy law, your family has the right to occupy that council
property after the person whose name it is in has passed away. So this
person, who called the deceased hispartner, took this case to court
claiming, "The council cannot evict me from my house. Why? Because he
was my family." To cut the long story short, this case went to the
Houseof Lords, the biggest judition. Eventually thecase was decided
that yes, this person is fromhis family and yes, this person has the
right to stay in this council house. For us, the decision is
unimportant, but look at what is happening in this world today.
Ma'roof (good) has become munkar (evil) and munkar has become ma'roof,
evil has become good. A gay person has been established as a family
member. This is what the Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam)
saidover 1400 years ago:"What will your situation be when ma'roof will
become munkar and munkar becomes ma'roof?" This is the exact scenario
we find ourselves in today. Thecompanions of the Prophet (sallallahu
alaiyhi wa sallam) asked: "Will this actually take place in the
world?" The Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) said, "More than
this will take place. Not only will good become bad and bad will
become good, more than this will happen." The companions of the
Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) asked, "What will this be?" The
Prophet (sallallahu alaiyhi wa sallam) said, "You will order people to
do wrong and you will stop them from doing good." My dear respected
brothers andsisters, if we look at the world today, is thisnot the
case? People are accepting Haqq (truth) as Baatil (falsehood) and
Baatil as Haqq, roguishness for righthood, vanity for truth. This is
the scenario of the world today, but the fact of the matter remains
that see the concepts of life change as periods go.
In the 20th century, wehave entertained manydiscoveries. There is a
book named Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st century.
It talks about what role science will play in our lives,
wherescientist are going towards. In it are opinions of 150 great
authorities on science in this day and age published by the Oxford
University Press. In this book, it states that between 1990 and 2000,
no other period has entertained extra scientific knowledge that what
we have been discovering for 500 years according to western theory and
Muslims were well intoit before all this.
All these discoveries took place in the last 10 years because of 3
main discoveries.
The first is the Quantum Theory. This theory is based on mankind being
able to split the atom. Once he split the atom, he now had knowledge
and power over matter. What is matter? Matteris anything you can
touch. This bench is matter. This tape recorder is matter. Because of
this discovery, we have TV, digital TV, DVD technology, where you can,
at a press of a button of a remote, select any angle. All this was a
direct result of the Quantum Theory.
The second revolution in the 20th century was the biomolecular
revolution or the DNA. Anyone who has been arrested will know that in
certain cases the police takes a DNA swab. A swab of saliva from the
inside of yourmouth and they use that and keep it on record to
identify a person and as a result of this DNA revolution, mankind was
able to have control over the human being. Now he can claim that 'I
have the intelligence to create a bionic man. I have the intelligence
to give that father any kind of son he wants. I have the intelligence
to give that woman any kind of baby she wants whether she wants a
clever one, an intelligent one, a blue-eyed one, a green-eyed one, or
a dumb one. Because mankind has masteredthe biomolecular revolution
and this is what it says in the book, Visions, that now scientists are
at an astounding position.
The third revolution of the 20th century is the computer revolution
and the computer revolution is that revolution with which mankind
believes he isable to play God. This isone idea of the computer
revolution.
Those who have a bank account, will most probably have a service tip
card (ATM). There will be a pin number on it which nobody has in the
world. It must need some brains for somebody to come up with this idea
that no one has the same pin number, but now its moving on. Barclays'
Bank is introducing another system which is already prevalent in
London. Allah, in your eye, has made a part called the iris. In that
part, Allah has created seventy different features from one eye and
the other eye has seventy different features. Next time yougo to
Barclays' Bank, you will not need your card, you will not need a pin
number. It will recognize you from thefeatures of your eyes. Allah
says in the Qur'an: "And in yourself, do you not see there are signs?"
Mankind is now discovering this. This is Allah's unlimited power,
which we wereunaware of and today it is coming in front of our eyes.
So these three revolutions, the Quantum Revolution, the Biomolecular
Revolution, and the Computer Revolution, mankind has mastered. Now he
is saying, "Now, I can play God. I'm going to be Allah. I'm going to
decide who is going to have what kind of child."
Islam is not against any progress. Muslims were conquering astronomy
in the sky at a time when it was innovation to look at the skies in
different religions. The scientists say that there will not be any
more major discoveries after these three main discoveries.
The hadith that I statedearly on, you tell me, when mankind thinks
that he is becoming God, is that not batil and munkar? Do we not find
an example in the Qur'an when Namrood said the same thing: I am God.
Is there not an example of Pharaoh, who claimed to be Allah, God?
Mankind is losing his goal in life as a result, many Muslims, educated
or uneducated. The sole purpose and function and role of a human being
in his life has been totally forgotten. We are failing to understand
our function in life. As one poet says: "I have many different
passions in life." One ofthe signs of Qiyaamah is that people will
havedifferent hobbies (to stray them away from the remembrance of
Allah), as Allama Tabrani narrated. I willgive you a real life example
of it, which is that when you walk in to any shop where they sell
magazines and you look at the topshelf to the bottom shelf, whatever
topic you want--hunting, computing, pornography or this or that, you
will find it there. We have this in our minds that people actually buy
this? If people didn't buy themthey would not produce them. So, one of
the signs of the Day of Judgement is that people will have different
passions. People will become busy in sports and computing and in
theirother hobbies that nobody will be aware of where this will lead
and the poet says: "I have different passions. All my different
passions and interests and hobbies became one from that moment when I
realized my central passion in life and that was Allah and those
people who I envied." because they have these new Mercedes with the
computerizeddashboards and posh mobile phones and these big houses
with a press of a button the gates open and like BillGates' house when
he leaves his house in Seattle, he can control the temperature of his
house miles away--people envy this type of person in the modern day
and age. This poets says, "that those people who I envied because they
have this (money) this time they are becoming jealous of me. Why?
Because I have found Allah in my life. I became a liberated slave of
mankind from that moment when I recognized Allah."
The new discoveries are having an affect on the human beings, so much
so that the knowledge in this day and age is taking mankind in the
direction of forgetting Allah. I have explained to you the progress in
this day.
Now, in a nutshell, I would like to point outthe consequences of the
discoveries that have taken place. I would like to take only one area
of this, which are the wars. If you look at the history of the 20th
century from 1900-1915 there was awar called the British Colonial War.
From 1914 to 1919 there was the first World War where one
millionpeople died. From 1921, for some years there was a war against
England and Ireland. From 1939 to about 1945 the secondWorld War took
place where fifty million people lost their lives. From 1956 to 1962
we had the colonial fighters in Africa, Angola, Tunisia, and Algeria
and today we have Chechnya, we have Bosnia, we have Afghanistan and
Russia and a whole host of other countries.Eighty percent of the time,
in the 20th century, mankind has been fighting with each other. What
is theprogress here, I ask you? We claim, on the one hand, that this
is the century of progress, but four-fifths of the time, mankind has
been fighting with each other. What kind of progress is that? We
cannot even learn to live with each other, soin this day and age there
is no doubt that we have progress, but where has the progress taken
us? Have we actually learned to live as human beings on the face of
this earth? The human being is no longer worthy of beingcalled a
human. Why? Because he does not recognize his Lord anymore.
It is necessary upon you to make sure that you look after soul. Why?
Because you are a human being by the mere fact that you have a soul
inside you and not by the fact thatyou have a body.
As a poet says:
The world would like to change you
There are pressures all around
You must decide just who you are
Then firmly hold your ground
So be yourself and don't allow the world to take control
Preserving your identity (as a Muslim) is life's most precious goal.
Wa akhirudda'wana anil humdulillahi rabbil alameen.

Surat an-Nisa, 77 (Hypocrites are opposed to intellectual struggle)

Do you not see those who were told: 'Hold back from fighting but
establish salat and pay alms? Then when fighting is prescribed
forthem, a group of them fear people as Allah should be feared, or
even more than that. They say, 'OUR LORD , WHY HAVE YOU PRESCRIBED
FIGHTING FOR US? IF ONLY YOU WOULD GIVE US JUST A LITTLE MORE TIME!'
Say, 'The enjoyment of the world is very brief. The Hereafter is
better for those who have fear of Allah. You will not be wronged by so
much as the smallest speck.' (Surat an-Nisa', 77)

Do you not see the main point that distinguishes the hypocrites? They
are opposed to Islamic Union and jihad (the intellectual struggle).
They do not want the deen of Allah to spread and rule the world. They
pray and fast and everything. They even ask for more. For instance, if
an animal is to be sacrificed they request further detail. But talk of
Islamic Union offends them, and that isthe problem they have.

Complexity of RNA Molecules Refutes Evolutionist Claims

Probabilistic calculationsmake it clear that complex molecules such as
proteins and nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) could not ever have been
formed by chance independently of each other . Yet evolutionists have
to face the even greater problem that all these complex moleculeshave
to coexist simultaneously in order for life to exist at all .
Evolutionary theory is utterly confounded by this requirement. This is
a point on which some leading evolutionists have been forced to
confession. For instance, Stanley Miller's and Francis Crick's close
associate from the University of San Diego California, reputable
evolutionist Dr. Leslie Orgel says :
It is extremely improbable that proteins and nucleic acids, both of
which are structurally complex, arose spontaneously in the same place
at the same time. Yet it also seems impossible to have one without the
other. And so, at first glance, one might have to conclude that life
could never, in fact, haveoriginated by chemical means . 1
The same fact is also admitted by other scientists:
John Horgan, "In the Beginning", Scientific American, vol. 264,
February 1991, p. 119
DNA cannot do its work, including forming more DNA, without the help
of catalytic proteins, or enzymes. In short, proteins cannot form
without DNA, but neithercan DNA form without proteins . 2
Douglas R. Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid,
New York, Vintage Books, 1980, p. 548
How did the Genetic Code, along with the mechanisms for its
translation (ribosomes and RNAmolecules), originate ? For the moment,
we will have tocontent ourselves with a sense of wonder and awe,
rather than with ananswer. 3