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Q. I heard a Maulana
saying that it is Biddat to quote the Bible to do Daw’ah to the
Ahle-Kitab (People of the Book; i.e. the Jews and the
Christians). I would like to get the answer from Dr. Zakir Naik
whether it is allowed as he very often quotes the Bible.
Basheer A. Hamid:
basheer_siddiqui@yahoo.co.uk
A. Although majority of the
Muslim Scholars find nothing wrong in the act of quoting the
scriptures of Ahle-Kitaab (People of the Book; i.e. the Jews and
the Christians) for the purpose of Daw’ah, there are some
Muslims who harbour a misconception that it is wrong to do so.
Some of the Scholars among them state that ‘those Muslims who
quote the Bible are doing Bid’ah’. It will be pertinent to know
the relevance of the evidence provided by these people to
substantiate their claim. The only Hadith that is very often
quoted by them is as follows:
“Narrated Jabir Ibn Abdullah
:
Umar ibn al-Khattab brought
to Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) a copy of the Torah and
said: ‘Allah’s Messenger, this is a copy of the Torah’. He
(Allah’s Messenger) kept quiet and he (Umar) began to read it.
The colour of the face of Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him)
underwent a change, whereupon Abu Bakr said: “Would that your
mother mourn you, don’t you see the face of Allah’s Messenger?’
Umar saw the face of Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) and said: ‘I seek
refuge with Allah from the wrath of Allah and the wrath of His
Messenger. We are well pleased with Allah as Lord, with Islam as
religion, and with Muhammad as Prophet’. Whereupon Allah’s
Messenger (pbuh) said : ‘By Him in Whose hand is the life of
Muhammad, even if Moses were to appear before you and you were
to follow him, leaving me aside, you would certainly stray into
error; for if (Moses) were alive (now), and he found my
prophetical ministry, he would have definitely followed me’.
(Sunan Ad-Darimi, Vol. 1,
Hadith No. 435)
Based on the Hadith quoted
above, some scholars insist that it is forbidden for the Muslims
to quote the Bible, regardless of the purpose behind quoting it
since the Prophet (pbuh) expressed his displeasure when Umar (R.A.)
read the Torah. However, here the objection of the prophet (pbuh)
was mainly on reading the Torah for guidance, as can be
understood by Umar’s prompt reafiirmation and satisfaction with
Allah as lord, with Islam as religion and with Muhammad (pbuh)
as messenger. The Prophet’s (pbuh) remark further clarifies that
even if Moses was alive, he would have definitely followed him,
meaning Moses (pbuh) too would have followed the Qur’an and the
teachings of Muhammad (pbuh). Thus those Muslim Da’ees who quote
the Old Testament or the New Testament of the Bible for the
purpose of Daw’ah do not quote it with the intention of
following them or seeking guidance from them, because the
ultimate and the best of the guidance is found in the last and
the final testament, the Glorious Qur’an and the authentic
Ahadith. Says Allah in the Qur’an:
“This day have I perfected
your religion for you completed my favour upon you and have
chosen for you Islam as your religion.” (Al-Qur’an 5:3)
With regards to quoting the
Bible for the purpose of Daw’ah, the authentic sources of
knowledge of Islam indicate beyond any doubt that it is
permissible for the Muslims to do so.
Let us first analyse the
following verse of the Qur’an :
Say : “O people of the book!
Come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none
but Allah; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect
not from among ourselves Lords and patrons other than Allah.” If
then they turn back say: “Bear witness that we (atleast) are
Muslims (bowing to Allah’s will).”
In the verse quoted above,
Allah instructs Muslims to invite the Ahle-Kitab to common
terms, with the first term being the oneness of Allah. How will
a Muslim get to common terms without knowing the terms of the
faith of Ahle-Kitab? It is either through studying their
scriptures, or is it to be presumed that all Muslims are well
versed with their term ? If a person tries to know the common
terms just by looking at the followers of Christianity, he will
be in a dilemma as to what the common terms are, because
majority of the Christians believe in many diverse concepts,
several of which are contrary to the teaching of the Bible.
Let us analyse some more
verses of the Qur’an :
“ All food was lawful to the
children of Israel except what Israel made unlawful for itself
before the Law of Moses was revealed. Say: “Bring you the Law
(Torah) and study it if you be men of truth.” (Al Qur’an
3:93)
Allah also says :
And they (the jews and the Christians) say: “None shall enter
paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian”. Those are their
(vain) desires. Say :” Produce your proof if you are truthful.”
(Al-Qur’an 2:111)
In the verse Quoted above
Allah (swt) commands us to demand for proof for the claims of
the Jews and the Christians. And they have produced the only
proof they have – i.e. the Bible, in over two thousand different
languages of the world. Are we going to swallow their ‘proof’
hook, line and sinker? It is presupposed that when Allah
commands us to demand for proof, that we would analyse the
proof, once it is produced. Otherwise it makes no sense to
demand proof.
The following Hadith from
Sahih Al Bukhari further substantiates that it is permissible to
quote the scriptures of the Ahle-Kitab:
Narrated Abdullah bin Amr
The Prophet said, “Convey
(my teachings) to the people even if it were a single sentence,
and tell others the stories of Bani Israel, for it is not sinful
to do so. And whoever tells a lie on me intentionally, will
surely take his place in the (Hell) Fire.”
(Sahih Al Bukhari, Vol. 4,
Hadith no. 3461)
There are some scholars who
interprets this Hadith by saying that the permission to quote
the stories of Bani Israel and that this Hadith refers to the
stories mentioned in the Qur’an, and not in the Scriptures of
Ahle-Kitab. However, we should understand the Hadith according
to the understanding of the narrator of the Hadith, Abdullah bin
Amr (R.A.), the companion of the Prophet (pbuh), because the
narrator’s understanding would be far more accurate than the
different understanding of all the modern interpreters put
together.
Ibn Kathir comments on this
Hadith as follows: “This Hadith from ‘Abdullah bin Amr was
collected by Al-Bukhari (Fath Al Bari 6:572). This is why when
‘Abdullah bin Amr’ had possession of two books from the people
of the scriptures on the day (battle) of Yarmuk , he used to
narrate what was in them, because of what he understood of the
hadith that allowed this practice.”
(Tafsir Ibn Kathir,
Abridged, Vol. 1, page no. 31)
The Hadith quoted above
should be proof enough even for the most skeptics among those
who object to quoting the Bible for the purpose of Daw’ah.
Following is the translation
of the words of Shaykhul-Islam Ibn-Taymiyyah taken from ‘Majmu’atul-Fatawa’,
Vol. 7, Part no. 13, paged 196-197, as well as Tafsir Ibn Kathir,
abridged, Vol. 1, page no. 31: “Yet, the Israelite accounts and
stories should only be used as supporting evidence, not as
evidence themselves. There are three types of these accounts and
tales; a kind that we are sure is authentic because we have in
our religion something that testifies to its truth. The second
type is what we know to be false based on what we have. The
third is of neither type. Hence we neither affirm nor deny this
type, and we allowed to narrate it because of the Hadith that we
mentioned…..”
Let us analyse the following
Hadith :
Narrated Ibn Umar
A Jew and a Jewess were
brought to Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) on a charge of committing an
illegal sexual intercourse. The Prophet (pbuh) asked them. “What
is the legal punishment (for this sin) in your book (Torah)?”
They replied, “Our priests have innovated the punishment of
blackening the faces with charcoal and Tajbiya.” Abdullah bin
Salam said, “O Allah’s Messenger, tell them to bring the Torah.”
The Torah was brought, and then one of the jews put his hand
over the Divine Verse of the Rajam (stoning to death) and
started reading what preceded and what followed it. On that, Ibn
Salam said to the jew, “Lift your hand.” Behold ! The Divine
Verse of the Rajam was under his hand. So Allah’s Messenger
ordered that the two (sinners) be stoned to death, and they were
stoned. Ibn ‘Umar added: so both of them were stoned at the
Balat and I saw the jew sheltering the Jewess.
(Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 8,
Hadith No. 6819)
From the Hadith quoted
above, we realize that the Prophet (pbuh) punished the jew and
the jewess according to the law of Torah since the law was going
in accordance with the law of the Qur’an. Here the intention of
the Prophet (pbuh) was not to follow the Torah but to implement
from it what was conciliating with the Qur’an, i.e. the
punishment for adultery. Similarly the easiest way to prove a
point to a person who believes in the Bible is to make reference
to the Bible. For example, the Bible says in the Gospel of Mark
12:29 “Hear, O Israel; The Lord of our God is one Lord”. By
making a Christian believe in one God through this verse, we
also make him believe in the first verse of Surah Al-Ikhlas,
chapter 112 of the Qur’an says: “He is Allah the One and Only”.
This would help negate the concept of Trinity from his mind.
Thus we follow the instructions of Allah as mentioned in the
verse quoted above from Al-Qur’an 3:64, which says: ‘Say ” O
people of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you:
that we worship none but Allah….”
Thus it can be concluded
that it is permissible for the Muslims to quote Bible for the
purpose of Daw’ah and all those who object to it should ponder
over the evidence provided by us. And Allah Knows the Best.
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