Question
How did Ibhraim, Ishaq, Yakoob, Daood, Sulemaan, Ayyub, Yusuf, Zakraiah, Ilyas, Ismail, Yunus, Loot get guidance and how do we know that God revealed His message upon them? We know that they were not given a book.
Were there a total of 150000 Prophets sent among various nations? If yes, then what is the source of this belief? It is not written in the Qur’an, it is written in the Bible.
If Adam is the first man than how did he read the Kalimaat and told to Malaykaa (as is mentioned in the Qur’an)?
The name “Hawwaa” (i.e. Eve) is not mentioned in the Qur’an it is in the Bible, then why do the Muslims hold this name to be of any significance?
Did God make Adam and Eve only for the purpose of giving birth to the subsequent generations?
Why do we offer sala’h the way we do. It is not written in the Qur’an, so how did Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) know of it? Did God tell him some things privately? If so, why?
Answer
The Qur’an clearly says:
We have revealed to you [O, Muhammad ] in the same way as We revealed our message to Noah and prophets after him. And [also] to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the group and Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron and Solomon and We gave David [a set of beautiful] Psalms.
As should be clear from the above verse, prophets of God have always received the message from God through revelation. Some of these prophets have been named in the verse or in some other verse(s) in the Qur’an . However, there could be a number of other prophets, not named in the Qur’an , who also received revelations from God.
The exact number of the prophets sent by God cannot be given with an element of certainty, as this information is not available from any source that can be considered absolutely reliable. However, it really does not make much of a difference because we, as Muslims, are only required to positively believe in those prophets regarding whose prophethood we have been informed by adequately reliable sources.
The Qur’an does not say that Adam (pbuh) ‘read’ any words (or kalimaat). On the contrary, the Qur’an says that God taught Adam (pbuh) a comprehensive supplication for seeking Allah’s forgiveness. The same is the case of the names, which Adam (pbuh) was taught, which he later presented before the angels.
I agree that the name “Eve”, or “Hawwaa”, is a Biblical name. However, this name is not a part of Islamic belief, which should be based on absolutely reliable sources of information. It is only an additional information about the first man and the first woman who were created by God. If you feel that this information is not correct, you should provide detailed arguments to support your point of view. Obviously, it would be quite unreasonable to imply that a name not mentioned in the Qur’an has to be false. Would you also reject that a scientist named Newton or Einstein lived on this earth, just because these names have not been mentioned in the Qur’an ?
We offer our regular sala’h (prayer) the way we do, because that is how the Prophet (pbuh) taught us (his followers to do so). The source of information of this sala’h is as authentic as that of the Qur’an . What makes the Qur’an as authentic as it is, is the fact that it has been transmitted to us through the Ijma` (consensus) of the companions (sahaba) of the Prophet (pbuh) and the verbal perpetuation of all the Muslim generations since that of the companion’s. The same is the case of sala’h. Sala’h has been transmitted to us by the Ijma` of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) and the practical perpetuation of all the Muslim generations since that of the companion’s. Thus, we have been delivered with the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) – which includes the method of offering sala’h – by the same source, which has delivered us the Qur’an . If one is considered to be reliable, the other can, obviously, not be doubted.
One may ask, why has the Qur’an not explained the method of offering sala’h in detail? The answer to this question is that the word “sala’h“, and the actions that it referred to, was not unknown to the Arabs during the times of the Prophet (pbuh). The Qur’an did not explain the word, because there was no need to do so. The Qur’an only gave those directives with reference to sala’h, which needed to be given for correcting the mistakes that had creeped into the Arab practice of sala’h.
As a principle, it should be remembered that the Qur’an is not the first book of God’s guidance to man. On the contrary, it is the last book. The Qur’an has not given any new religion to man. It is a continuation of the previous books (revelations) of God. Thus, the Qur’an has provided details only in those cases, where either the previous revelations had become adulterated with changes or where the previous teachings were meant to be for a temporary phase. In other cases, where the previous teachings were kept, more or less, intact there was no need for the Qur’an to give any details. This is the case why the Qur’an has not given extensive details for sala’h, zaka’h or hajj etc.
25th December 1999