Islam And Asking Questions About Faith

[Andaraawus]

Every faith on this planet whether it be Hinduism, Christianity or even Islam should be put under the microscope of close examination, in which hard questions should have reasonable and logical answers and this is the scale of truth and falsehood, if any faith can not weigh up to this, then that faith is zilch, if a religion can not stand up to hard questioning and examination then that religion is nothing but a fancy falsehood.

Islam like any other religion is open to examination, however when placing Islam under the spotlight of investigation, orienlentalists again and again have found to be tampering with the evidence to propagate a clouded misinterpretation of Islam by quoting this following verse from the glorious Qur’an:

O ye who believe! Ask not questions about things which if made plain to you, may cause you trouble. but if ye ask about things when the Qur'an is being revealed, they will be made plain to you, God will forgive those: for God is oft-forgiving, most Merciful.. Some people before you did ask such questions, and on that account lost their faith." (Surah 5:101-102).

By partially quoting this verse orienlentalists claim that Islam is a religion of blind following in which you are forbidden to probe into questions, even some orienlentalists go as far as to lace their articles with quotations from heretics such as maududi which is the similarity of quoting from a Mormon for a representation of orthodox Christianity.

In a futile attempt’s to discredit the doctrine of Islam orienlentalists have attempted to give their own interpretation in which we will put under the spotlight of investigation.

[1] THE REASON FOR REVELATION OF 5:101-102

The quote that you have asked about is actually in
Sahih ul-Bukhaari, Arab/Eng. Version, Vol. 6, pp.
113-115, Ch. 101, ahaadith #'s 145-146; Tafsir
at-Tabari, V. 11, pp. 100-103; Sahih Muslim, V. 4,
1834 and others.

It is quoted in the following tafsir literature,

Imaam Ibn `Atiyyah al-Maaliki's al-Muharrir ul-Wajiz,
pp. 584-586; Imaam Ibn al-Jawzi's Zaad ul-Masir fi
`Ilm it-Tafsir, pp. 410-411; Imaam al-Hussain
al-Baghaawi's Lubaab ut-Ta'wil fi Ma`aalam it-Tanzil,
pp., 401-402; Imaam al-`Izz ibn `Abdus-Salaam and
Imaam al-Maawardi's Tafsir ul-Qur'an, pp. 141-142;
Imaam as-Suyuti's ad-Darr ul-Manthur, V. 2, pp.
330-334 and others. They all find the ahaadith, when
put together and examined, to be sound.

The hadith in question states that the people were
asking the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be
upon him, about different things constantly and
annoying him, thus he began answering their challenges
as well as questions. One man present was `Abdullah
as-Sahmi, who had been born and brought up to believe
another man was his father. But when he asked, 'Who is
my father?' He was told, 'Your father is Hudhaafah.'

Other people asked the same questions and were given
answers different to what they were expecting. When
`Abdullah ibn Hudhaafah came home, he found his mother
had been informed through other people about the
events that happened in the day.

She said to him, 'I have never known as son more
disobedient than you! Do you believe that your mother
would commit the sin of the women of the Jaahiliyyah
only to then have you reveal it in front of the very
eyes of the people?!' `Abdullah said, 'If I was able
to take up the lowly position of a slave, I would have
done so that day out of shame.'

It had then been related from `Umar, who said, 'O
Messenger of Allah! Indeed we had perpetrated these
things in the Jaahiliyyah. Ask the pardon of Allah for
us and we ask you as well.' It was then that the ayah
was revealed. This is the end of the full hadith on
the subject.


As narrated in a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari (vol. 1, no. 91) the Holy Prophet [peace be upon him] was being questioned in which some of the questioners were asking questions to test the unseen knowledge that Allah has bestowed upon the Holy Prophet [s]. A man insisted the Prophet [s] with a question that the Holy Prophet [s] did not want to answer and the Holy Prophet [s] became angry which caused his cheeks to blush red, the man kept on insisting who was his father and the Prophet [s] didn’t want to tell him due to the fact the Holy Prophet [s] knew that the man was a illegitimate child born from adultery while the man thought his father to be someone else the Holy Prophet [s] knew the true reality, the man insisted so much in which he pushed the Holy Prophet [s] to the point of saying “ask me anything you like” after hearing the Holy Prophet’s answer informing him who his real father was thereupon he bought shame upon his mother and also as a consequence of hard questioning the Prophet [s] in such a manner he could of lost his faith in Islam for asking such troublesome questions. Some of the children of Israel questioned Moses in the same manner and on account lost their faith. Allah in His Glorious word says:

Rather you wish to put questions to your Apostle, as Musa was questioned before; and whoever adopts unbelief instead of faith, he indeed has lost the right direction of the way. [2.108]

It wasn’t the questioning that was the reason for losing their faith but the way and content of how they were questioning, harsh questioning to any of the beloved Prophets of Allah therefore causes loss of faith but this does not mean that we can not at all ask any questions concerning our faith as We see clearly from the above quoted verse from the Qur’an that indeed we are allowed to ask questions:

but if ye ask about things when the Qur'an is being revealed, they will be made plain to you, God will forgive those: for God is oft-forgiving, most Merciful. (Surah 5:101-102).

We will also find that the orienlentalists have a habit of missing this part out when quoting from the Qur’an.

[2] ANOTHER HADITH IN WHICH THE PROPHET [S] WAS QUESTIONED

Another Hadith that you will find the orienlentalists quoting out of context to support their falsehood is this:

“The Prophet got angry and his cheeks or his face became red”

The Hadith they partially quote from actually says:

"Narrated Zaid bin Khaid Al-Juhani: a man asked the Prophet about the picking up of a 'luqata'(fallen lost thing). the Prophet replied, 'recognize and remember its tying material and its container, and make public announcement (about it) for one year, then utilize it but give it to its owner if he comes.' Then the person asked about the lost camel. on that, The Prophet got angry and his cheeks or his face became red and he said, "You have no concern with it as it has its water container, and its feet and its will reach water, and eat (the leaves) of trees till its owner finds it." The man then asked about the lost sheep. The Prophet replied, 'It is either for you, for your brother (another person) or for the wolf." (Sahih Bukhari vol.1:91)

By quoting this Hadith in full would make the orienlentalists seem childish with the point they are trying to give emphasis by misquoting:

[1] We find from this Hadith that the Holy Prophet [s] was asked 3 questions in which one of them he disliked, so once again that shows that questioning is allowed in Islam

[2] We find that the questions asked was not about their faith in Allah or the Qur’an so how can a orienlentalist even hope to quote this to solidify their point?

[3] The Prophet [s] became angry due to the content of the question once again but is their any indication of him losing his temper or even raising his voice? Infact the Hadith’s that we find these orienlentalists quoting only confirm the beautiful character of Prophet Muhammad [s] and the morality what he displayed. When the Prophet [s] became angry his cheeks turned colour and that’s it, Subhan-Allah.

[3] ALLAH HAS HATED YOU FOR ASKING QUESTIONS

The last 2 Hadith’s that orienlentalists make a habit of quoting out of context is these:

"Allah has hated you...[for] asking too many questions." (vol. 2, no. 555; and vol. 3, no. 591)

Now if we look at the context of both these Hadith’s we find:

[1] "Narrated Ash-Shabi : The clerk of Al-Mughira bin Shuba narrated, 'Muawya wrote to Al-Mughira bin Shuba: write to me something which you have heard from the Prophet.' so Al-Mughira wrote: I heard the Prophet saying, 'Allah has hated for you three things: vain talks, (useless talk) or that you talk too much about others wasting of wealth (by extravagance). and asking too many questions (in disputed religious matters) or asking others for something (except in great need.) (Sahih Bukhari vol. 2:555)

[2] "Narrated Al-Mughira bin Shuba: The Prophet said, "Allah has forbidden for you (1) to be undutiful to your mothers, (2) to bury your daughters alive, (3) to not to pay the rights of the others (e.g charity etc.) and (4) to beg of men (begging.) and Allah has hated for you (1) Vain, useless talk, or that you talk too much about othes (2) to ask too many questions (in disputed religious matters) and (3) to waste the wealth (by extravaganace). (Sahih Bukhari vol. 3:591)
The orienlentalist I have took quotation from is Dr Robert A. Morey from his book ‘Winning the war against radical Islam’ [pg.2] and we see a great difference in how he has quoted it to how it actually is, this is just one of the many examples of manipulation of evidence:
[1] Both the Hadith’s say “Allah has hated for you” not “Allah hated you”, this is a blatant manipulation of doctrine to support his falsehood.
[2] Both the Hadith’s say “asking too many questions” referring to disputed religious matters
CONCLUSION:
So just like any other faith Islam can be questioned and Islam is in no way afraid of the spotlight of investigation,
Orienlentalists have painted a picture that portrays Islam as a religion of blind faith and following which doesn’t allow no questions on the consequence of losing your faith when the truth comes to light but to the contrary Islam encourages one to think and question his faith, Allah encourages in His Glorious word to question the Qur’an when He says:
“Do you not ponder the Qur’an” (Qur’an 4:82)
and also Allah furthermore insists that we ask questions about our faith:
"Ask those who recall if you know not" (Qur’an 16:43)
We also find when we look at all the books on Hadith that they are full of questions, questions, questions, directed to the Prophet [s] all to numerous to count and out of the many thousands orienlentalists can only find 3 and then on top of that misquote them in a pitiful attempt to discredit Islam, Furthermore the miraculous thing about Allah’s Holy word the Qur’an is you can put it under the microscope of examination only to find out Allah has you under the microscope of examination.
“Do you not ponder the Qur’an” (Qur’an 4:82).

[Andaraawus]

:sl: I would be greatful if somebody has a way to improve this or add to this ...many heads are better than one wasalams