Islam for Muslims
- THE FAITH OF MUSLIMS
- GOOD DEEDS IN PERSONAL LIFE
- GOOD DEEDS IN SOCIAL LIFE
Divine Books, Angels & Jinns
Introduction: The Muslims are mandated to believe in all the holy Books of God as well as two types of supernatural beings, namely Angels and Jinns. These are now described below:
(A) Divine Books: The Quran requires the Muslims to put their trust in all the scriptures that God sent “to you (Quran) and sent before your time” (2:4). Among these Books, four are worthy of mention: ‘Zabur’ sent down on Prophet David, Torah (Old Testament) on Prophet Moses (28:43), ‘Injeel’ (Bible) on Prophet Jesus (5:46) and the Quran finally revealed to Prophet Muhammad (pbut). Besides, there had been many arrivals in smaller volumes from the divine source including one for Abraham. However, Muslims need only to believe that all these Books are sacred for having been originated from God (2:4). But when it comes to practice, you will follow only the Quran, as it enveloped and “confirmed” the basic teachings of all the previous Books, thus naturally having a replacement effect (5:48; 3:85). Moreover, it is now the only Book that retains its original purity to this day. Now follow a discussion on the origin and features of the Quran.
The Quran: (1) Status & Revelation: The Quran represents the ‘direct speech’ from God like His audiotape-recorded speech as “the whole of it comes from (Him)” (3:7). It is so much “honorable” that you cannot touch it “unless in a clean state (with mandated ablution)” (56: 77/79). It was saved in the “Preserved Table (Lauh Mahfuz)” at a celestial location (85:22). From there, He started sending its verses down during a “blessed Night of Power” on His beloved last Prophet through “the Holy Spirit” named Angel Gabriel (44:3; 16:102). God used a parable to illustrate the high end value of this Book that if He did send it down on a “mountain” and if it had senses, then it could be found “humbled and crumbled for fear of God” (59:21). Over a period of 23 years from 610 to 632 A.D., the Quran was revealed in a piecemeal fashion, mostly with relevance to various actions of the Prophet or events of his life. These were rehearsed to him “in slow, well-arranged stages, gradually” in order that his “heart may be strengthened” (25:32) and he could cope with practical impacts of revelations. Later the verses were presented in the Quran, not in chronological order of revelations but as judiciously dictated by Angel Gabriel.
(2) Features & Organization: The Quran was written in “Arabic, without any crookedness” so the Prophet could warn the Arabic speaking people of “the Mother of Cities (Mecca) and all around her” (39:28; 42:7). The language was “made easy”, with verses “explained in details” along with citations of “every kind of parable” so “your heart is not oppressed by any difficulty” (44:58; 41:3; 39:27; 7:2). It is divided into 30 parts, containing a total of 114 chapters (sura) and over 6,600 plus verses (ayah). Revealed verses are classified into Makki and Madani--depending upon where (Mecca or Medina) the Prophet was living at the time of revelation. The former variety mainly deals with the introductory basics sent to the Prophet during the early phase of his Islamic life in Mecca (610-622 A.D.). The second type of verses was descended after his migration from Mecca to Medina (622-632 A.D.) when he was heavily engaged for carrying out the social, political, economic and other objectives of Islam. Some verses deal with the fundamental contents known as the “foundation of the Book; others are allegorical” with hidden meaning known only to God (3:7). In exceptional cases, “one verse was substituted for the other” (16:101). For example, prohibition of drinking alcohol during prayer time (4:43) was replaced by its ban forever (5:91).
(3) Preservation: All possible human steps were taken to make sure that there was no discrepancy between what God revealed in the Quran and what His Prophet received thereof and the contents were carefully preserved for future generations of Muslims. For perfect preservation, both physical (recording) and mental (memorization) methods were employed.
(i) Recording: As soon as Quranic messages were revealed through Angel Gabriel, each and every word was recorded by “the hands of honorable, pious and just” scribes (including Zaid) (80:15/16) who copied as exactly as were told by the Prophet. These contents were also read back to the Prophet to confirm the accuracy of recording.
(ii) Memorization: God undertook the pious project of “teaching (the Prophet) how to recite (the Message) so (he) “would not forget” (87:6). Accordingly, Angel Gabriel “brought down the (revelations) to (his) heart by God’s will”, making memorization easier for him (2:97). Sometimes, he also recited the revelations to Gabriel to confirm accuracy. He had to recite Quranic verses as part of his daily compulsory and optional prayers which not only reinforced his memorization but also brought similar benefits to his mosque attendees. His companions also committed them to memory (i) with the incentive of gaining rewards for recitation and (ii) under mandate to recite them while praying individually. Also beyond prayer time, his mosque-based associates (Ashabe Suffa) took pleasure in reciting and memorizing the Quran as well as helping one another to verify accuracy in recitation. Thus during the Prophet’s time, the culture of recitation and memorization gained momentum under God’s policy to “make the Quran easy to understand and remember” (54:17). As an end result of this, there are currently about ten million (estimated) Hafiz (Quran memorizers) worldwide.
(iii) Compilation: During the Prophet’s time, the pieces of the Quran were carefully recorded (for preservation) on parchment (leather), stone, clothes, palm leaves etc. Following his death, when many memorizers started dying in the holy wars, the need was sharply felt to compile the Quran into one volume. A committee was therefore formed under Zaid to transform the recorded pieces of Quran into one volume. The compilation was made as exact as was recorded during the Prophet’s time and in doing so proper caution was taken such as through intensive checking method. The compiled Quran was then safely preserved with the Prophet’s trusted widow named Hafsa (RA).
(iv) Making One Standard Arabic Version: With the expansion of Islam, the Quran used to be recited in local dialects, as a growing challenge to uniform recitation. Caliph Othman, therefore, ordered for making a standard copy of the Quran in the dialect of Quraish tribe of the Prophet. Then copies were produced and verified with the original preserved with Hafsa. Standard copies were sent to different parts of the Muslim world along with teacher (s) to teach the locals about how to recite correctly. Two such copies are still preserved at the Museum of Istanbul (Turkey) and the other at the library of Tashkent (Uzbekistan). Thus uniform method of correct recitation of the Quran is now very much a possibility across the Muslim world.
(B) Angels: As a Muslim, you must believe in the existence of Angels. They are usually invisible but are established as undeniable truth through Quranic verses. God made “the Angels messengers with wings: two or three or four pairs” (35:1). Made of light, they can take different shapes as willed by God. For example, God’s Angel “appeared before her (Mary) as a man in all respects” (19:17). Likewise, Angel Gabriel (Jibrael), assigned to transport Quranic revelations, sometimes took the form of the Prophet’s handsome companion named Dahyah Al-Kalbi, visible to those who were around him.
(1) Uniqueness: God created the Angels with uniqueness in many ways. Namely, they do not belong to any gender: male or female (53:27). They are above any weaknesses typical of human beings including hunger, exhaustion, drowsiness, boredom etc. Clean from any sins, they are always lost in prayers as devout servants of God. They are ever-ready to carry out His orders exactly as “they are commanded” with full devotion and without any deviation (66:6). Differently from man, they have no free will to do anything good or bad and therefore they will not face any accountability on the Day of Judgment.
(2) Assignments: Though the Angels are numerous in number (53:26), some of them are known for their specific duties they are assigned with. For example, “some carry the Throne of your Lord”, some “surround the Throne on all sides” and some “celebrate His praises day and night”, (some) “pray for pardon for all on earth”, (some) “send blessings to you”, (some) “guard” people “in succession, before and behind” them (69:17; 39:75; 41:38; 42:5; 33:43; 13:11). Sometimes, they “descend” by “command of your Lord” as they “come down” during the Night of Power in Ramadan (19:64; 97:4).
The most renowned among the Angels is Gabriel (Jibrael), the Holy Spirit who “brings down the (revelations)” from God to the prophets (2:97) as He did for Moses, Jesus etc. Mikail (Michael) (2:98) is entrusted with pouring rain and distribution of livelihood. The Angel of Death violently “tears out” the souls of bad people and “gently draws out” the souls of good people (79:1/ 2). Israfil will blow the trumpet on the Doom’s Day. Watchful angels “one seated on the right and the other on the left”, assigned with “recording” your conduct, with readiness to note “every word (you) utter” (50:17; 43:80; 50:18). Some angels are responsible for questioning the residents of the graves. There are angels, “stern (and) severe”, for executing “punishment” on behalf of God (66:6; 96:18). On the Day of Judgment, “one (angel) will be (appointed) to drive and (another) to bear witness” for each soul (50:21).
(C) Jinns (Spirits): Like the Angels, the Jinns are also another variety of generally invisible celestial entity. The Quran dedicates one chapter, namely Al Jinn, confirming the reality of their existence. Accordingly, they are made up from “smoke-free fire” (55:15). They have body and soul; there are males and females among them, with ability to marry, produce babies and belong to a family. They live in undisclosed locations and obviously their bad ones usually stay away from religious people particularly those who recite the last Quranic chapter for protection from the Jinns. Though generally evasive to human eyes, they are able to assume concrete shapes as willed by God. For example, Jinns “worked in front of (King Solomon); they worked for him as he desired” (34:12/13). Still now there are some “persons among mankind” who know the technique of dealing with them or “can take shelter with persons among the Jinns” often for personal gains, which are of course banned by God (72:6).
Among the Jinns, “there are some who are righteous” as well as some others who are not (72:11). Like the humans, the “Messengers also come to (the Jinns) from amongst (them)” “for warning (them) about their meeting” with God for their actions on the Day of Judgment (6:130) when their bad ones will “be fuel for Hellfire” (72:15). The righteous ones among them used to “listen to the Quran (quietly)” and “when (the recitation) was finished, (some) returned to their people, to warn (them of their sins)” (46:29). Some of them also became the followers of the Prophet. The bad ones among them, also known as Satans (devils), have the powers to “descend on sinful liars” and influence their mind with greed, anger, ego etc. (26:222). The infamous Satan Iblis “was one of the Jinns” (18:50). There were occasions when the bad Jinns used to go high up the sky and “sit at (hidden) places” to overhear the secret conversations of the Angels (72:9). This practice however stopped after “flaming fires” were pelted at them; which however may not necessarily be the present day shooting stars (72:8).
Conclusion: It appears from the above that the Muslim faith is more diverse than mere belief in the existence of one God. It extends to everything that God introduced to us.