Monday, May 5, 2008

Moses and Allah making fun of Mohammad?

Source Sahih Muslim

Ok, this passage is very long. So I will underline the part I am referring to below.

Chapter 75: NIGHT JOURNEY OF THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH (MAY PEACE BE UPON HIM) TO HEAVEN, AND THE PRAYER MADE OBLIGATORY
Book 001, Number 0309:

It is narrated on the authority of Anas b. Malik that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said: I was brought al-Buraq Who is an animal white and long, larger than a donkey but smaller than a mule, who would place his hoof a distance equal to the range of version. I mounted it and came to the Temple (Bait Maqdis in Jerusalem), then tethered it to the ring used by the prophets. I entered the mosque and prayed two rak'ahs in it, and then came out and Gabriel brought me a vessel of wine and a vessel of milk. I chose the milk, and Gabriel said: You have chosen the natural thing. Then he took me to heaven. Gabriel then asked the (gate of heaven) to be opened and he was asked who he was. He replied: Gabriel. He was again asked: Who is with you? He (Gabriel) said: Muhammad. It was said: Has he been sent for? Gabriel replied: He has indeed been sent for. And (the door of the heaven) was opened for us and lo! we saw Adam. He welcomed me and prayed for my good. Then we ascended to the second heaven. Gabriel (peace be upon him) (asked the door of heaven to be opened), and he was asked who he was. He answered: Gabriel; and was again asked: Who is with you? He replied: Muhammad. It was said: Has he been sent for? He replied: He has indeed been sent for. The gate was opened. When I entered 'Isa b. Maryam and Yahya b. Zakariya (peace be upon both of them), cousins from the maternal side. welcomed me and prayed for my good Then I was taken to the third heaven and Gabriel asked for the opening (of the door). He was asked: Who are you? He replied: Gabriel. He was (again) asked: Who is with you? He replied Muhammad (may peace be upon him). It was said: Has he been sent for? He replied He has indeed been sent for. (The gate) was opened for us and I saw Yusuf (peace of Allah be upon him) who had been given half of (world) beauty. He welcomed me prayed for my well-being. Then he ascended with us to the fourth heaven. Gabriel (peace be upon him) asked for the (gate) to be opened, and it was said: Who is he? He replied: Gabriel. It was (again) said: Who is with you? He said: Muhammad. It was said: Has he been sent for? He replied: He has indeed been sent for. The (gate) was opened for us, and lo! Idris was there. He welcomed me and prayed for my well-being (About him) Allah, the Exalted and the Glorious, has said:" We elevated him (Idris) to the exalted position" (Qur'an xix. 57). Then he ascended with us to the fifth heaven and Gabriel asked for the (gate) to be opened. It was said: Who is he? He replied Gabriel. It was (again) said: Who is with thee? He replied: Muhammad. It was said Has he been sent for? He replied: He has indeed been sent for. (The gate) was opened for us and then I was with Harun (Aaron-peace of Allah be upon him). He welcomed me prayed for my well-being. Then I was taken to the sixth heaven. Gabriel (peace be upon him) asked for the door to be opened. It was said: Who is he? He replied: Gabriel. It was said: Who is with thee? He replied: Muhammad. It was said: Has he been sent for? He replied: He has indeed been sent for. (The gate) was opened for us and there I was with Musa (Moses peace be upon him) He welcomed me and prayed for my well-being. Then I was taken up to the seventh heaven. Gabriel asked the (gate) to be opened. It was said: Who is he? He said: Gabriel It was said. Who is with thee? He replied: Muhammad (may peace be upon him.) It was said: Has he been sent for? He replied: He has indeed been sent for. (The gate) was opened for us and there I found Ibrahim (Abraham peace be upon him) reclining against the Bait-ul-Ma'mur and there enter into it seventy thousand angels every day, never to visit (this place) again. Then I was taken to Sidrat-ul-Muntaha whose leaves were like elephant ears and its fruit like big earthenware vessels. And when it was covered by the Command of Allah, it underwent such a change that none amongst the creation has the power to praise its beauty.


Then Allah revealed to me a revelation and He made obligatory for me fifty prayers every day and night. Then I went down to Moses (peace be upon him) and he said: What has your Lord enjoined upon your Ummah? I said: Fifty prayers.

He said: Return to thy Lord and beg for reduction (in the number of prayers), for your community shallnot be able to bear this burden. as I have put to test the children of Isra'il and tried them (and found them too weak to bear such a heavy burden). He (the Holy Prophet) said: I went back to my Lord and said: My Lord, make things lighter for my Ummah. (The Lord) reduced five prayers for me. I went down to Moses and said. (The Lord) reduced five (prayers) for me, He said: Verily thy Ummah shall not be able to bear this burden; return to thy Lord and ask Him to make things lighter.

I then kept going back and forth between my Lord Blessed and Exalted and Moses, till He said: There are five prayers every day and night. O Muhammad, each being credited as ten, so that makes fifty prayers. He who intends to do a good deed and does not do it will have a good deed recorded for him; and if he does it, it will be recorded for him as ten; whereas he who intends to do an evil deed and does not do, it will not be recorded for him; and if he does it, only one evil deed will be recorded.

I then came down and when I came to Moses and informed him, he said: Go back to thy Lord and ask Him to make things lighter. Upon this the Messenger of Allah remarked: I returned to my Lord until I felt ashamed before Him.


Besides the extreme length of this passage, this passage tries to show that Mohammad could argue with his allah. However, two glaring questions must be answered:

1) Did Moses know better about human nature than Allah, the alleged creator of humanity? (This conclusion is reasonable seeing how it was Moses who knew the prayer threshold human beings could take as opposed to the alleged creator, allah.) If not;
2) Were Moses and Allah making fun of Mohammad and his followers? (It is well known that Allah is a great trickster/schemer (Quran - Surah 3:55), so it is conceivable to see that Moses and Allah playing a joke on Mohammad to see how many times he would go back and forth to negotiate.

On a side note, it is ironic to see that a Jewish prophet was the person who saved Muslims from 50 prayers a day, while the Quran labels Jews as "Apes and Swine." Wonder if maybe Allah did not like Moses interfering on behalf of Muslims.

6 comments:

One Option said...

I am a muslim; on your last point:
Moses was one of the great prophets (also the likes of Jesus (mentioned as Isa in your passage), Abraham, David and the list could carry on)... muslims dont deny them and cant.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of the prophets or the religion they brought. When people became corrupted and changed religions to suit the leaders at the time... Allah (the one and only God) would send more prophets as reminders/saviours. The last of the prophets was Muhammad.

hhashmo said...

One OPtion: Abraham and David were not prophets (They did not make any prophecies - Islam's definition of prophet does not accord with Mirriam Webster's definition)

Second, only Mohammad brought a religion. The others talked about a relationship with God. There is no relationship with God in Islam.

Third, Mohammad made up religion as he went along. For instance, he banned adoption so he could marry his adopted son's wife. (Tabari).

Fourth, your reasoning about God sending down prophets is specious. People will always corrupt words of a doctrine. Who is to say that the BaHai's are not right?

Anonymous said...

is a great blog... i willl translate your articles in my langauge for my people to be informed what funy can be islam sometimes...thank u so much...very informative articles and well pointed conclusions

Anonymous said...

Well the hadith sounds so untrue. Must be from a disbeliver

Anonymous said...

"I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation

because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which

appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the

changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to

every age. I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my

opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the

Saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to

assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed

in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much

needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith

of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of

tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of

today."_ Sir George Bernard Shaw in 'The Genuine Islam,' Vol. 1, No. 8,

1936.

Sameer said...

Thank you very much for this blog. Unlike other disbeliever sites you have actually taken a bit moderate stance, instead of outright bashing our religion, you have taken as asking questions regarding it.

We regard Moses as a great prophet, and according to some other hadith, Mohammed (PBUH) asked us not to compare about who is a greater prophet.

Regarding the 2nd question, I would like to mention another hadith. Once prophet Adam (PBUH) was approached by Moses (PBUH) who said that "Due to your original sin we had been cast away from the heavens", Adam replied "Weren't you given the Torah that was written 50 years earlier to creation of the universe?" "Yes", Moses replied. "Then are you accusing me for doing some thing that was written 50 years before creation of me?" If you believe in religion, then every thing in this world has been a divine experiment, perhaps beyond our comprehension.

I personally believe that the dialogue was done so that muslims would be encouraged to perform Salat 5 times, atleast thinking that it is much better than 50 times (They are getting credit for 50 times any way). That is just my own interpretation.

Thanks again for running this site. I could actually find some of the hadith which I did not know