Sunday, March 15, 2020

Apostate prophet in search of a true prophecy; when will the Hour come?

In answer to the video "Muhammad's Failed End Time Prophecy"

7:187"They ask you about the hour, when will be its taking place? Say: The knowledge of it is only with my Lord; none but He shall manifest it at its time; it will be momentous/thaqulat in the heavens and the earth; it will not come on you but of a sudden. They ask you as if you were solicitous about it. Say: Its knowledge is only with Allah, but most people do not know".
By the words thaqulat/burdened, the verse employs the metaphor of pregnancy in its last stages. Just as the sight of such a woman leaves no doubt as to the fact that she must eventually deliver, the signs of the Resurrection and judgement are so numerous and obvious in the heavens and the earth that one is left with no doubt as to the fact it will and must occur. Its unfolding is a certainty but, just as for the pregnant woman, its time is unknown. The Quran's warnings about the end of times are prophetic, not apocalyptic as we find in the Gospels and Paul's writings. In the Christian tradition, it is behind the corner and imminent (but failed happening as predicted), in the Quran it is merely inevitable.

The object of every prophet wasnt to determine its timing but to ascertain its inevitability in the mind of their addressees
79:42-5"They ask you about the hour: When will be its arrival? You are not (in position) to know it. To your Lord is its end. You are only a warner for one who fears it".
The final hour is the culminating part of a universal system based on truth and justice. Without it, the universe would be purposeless and the idea of moral accountability flawed and incomplete. When that is established then the details surrounding the event should be secondary in importance, the true focus should be on doing good prior to its ushering. Given that both the Quran and ahadith attest to the prophet's ignorance of the precise timing of the end of days, he is expected to shift the focus away from the timing whenever asked about it. And effectively, when asked, he would begin by encouraging righteousness, repentance and gratefulness. He would then proceed with statements that are often ambiguous and open to interpretation. This in itself is an appeal to focus on the present rather than speculating on what is beyond our grasp and which isnt even a requirement of faith 
 "While the Prophet and I were coming out of the mosque, a man met us outside the gate. The man said, "O Allah's Messenger! When will be the Hour?" The Prophet asked him, "What have you prepared for it?" The man became afraid and ashamed and then said, "O Allah's Messenger! I haven't prepared for it much of fasts, prayers or charitable gifts but I love Allah and His Apostle." The Prophet said, "You will be with the one whom you love".
 On another occasion he answered 
"If this boy lives he would not grow very old that he would find your Last Hour coming to you he would see you dying".
The noble prophet is telling the questioners to worry about their own last hour, meaning preparing themselves for it, prior to worrying about the last hour of all humanity. This is common theme in the Quran, warning people to prepare themselves as if their time is very near. Death is a reality bound to occur at any moment. Understanding this reality should awake the person and make him ponder on the higher meaning of life
7:185"Have they not contemplated the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and whatever things Allah created, and that maybe their time has already draw near?"
In accordance with what he was inspired to convey in relation to the day of resurrection, the prophet thus never pin pointed the time of its occurrence. As Jaafar al sadiq said
"Allah the Exalted has decreed for us some things and demands from us some things. What he has decreed for us has been kept hidden from us, and what he wants from us has been made plain to us. What is the matter with us that we busy ourselves with what is decreed for us at the expense of what is demanded from us?".
When the angel Gabriel appeared to him, asking
"When will the Hour be established?' The prophet replied 'The answerer has no better knowledge than the questioner' ending his reply with "the Hour is one of five things which nobody knows except Allah.'
  He then recited
31:34'Verily, with Allah (Alone) is the knowledge of the Hour".
Even when he did put a timing, he implied its closeness in relation to the overall life of this world
"The time of my advent and the Hour are like these two fingers". He said elsewhere "The sun is about to set, and what remains of this world, compared to what has passed (ie since the beginning of time), is like what remains of this day compared to what has passed".
The Quran itself alludes to the idea that time in this world is relative, when seen from a higher perspective
75:34"Nearer to you (is destruction) and nearer, Again (consider how) nearer to you and nearer" 70:6-7"Surely they think it to be far off, And We see it nigh" 16:77"And Allah's is the unseen of the heavens and the earth; and the matter of the hour is but as the twinkling of an eye or it is higher still; surely Allah has power over all things".
In other places, it quotes incidents long passed before even the rising of the prophet Muhammad, where God states that
20:16"Surely the Hour is coming. I am about to make it manifest so that every soul may be rewarded as it strives".
This again shows that the divine intent when speaking of the closeness of the end of times, is in relation to the overall time of the world from its inception to its final destination. And this understanding is reflected in the prophetic statements about the timing of the hour. When the prophet paralleled the conquest of Constantinople with the ushering of the end of times, he described the presence of the mahdi and the descent of Jesus. After fierce combat, and at the point when the Mahdi is encircled, Jesus will descend to lead the Muslim armies, and slay the Dajjal. Soon after this, the Muslims will take Constantinople by peaceful means
"They will conquer Constantinople with Tasbih and Takbir and will acquire such spoils of war as has never been seen before".
I'll leave this closet Christian with a saying from his god-man to ponder upon; 
Matt24:36,Mk13:32"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father"
Here the text contrasts the lack of knowledge of all intelligent beings, including Jesus, with the complete knowledge of God. This verse perplexed many leading Trinitarians throughout history who were faced with the problem of Jesus' ignorance of a particular matter. Many manuscripts dont even have the passage, leading scholars to argue it was at some point edited out to avoid controversy with anti-Trinitarians. Some have tried solving this by appealing to the mysterious concept of hypostatic union of 2 contradictory entities; the imperfect creation and the perfect Creator. Others have appealed to the Greek text, arguing that what is translated as "know" can also be rendered "make known". Jesus therefore knows the hour but the only one that can make it known/proclaim it is God the Father. One may then legitimately ask, when and where did the Father make that matter known? Will the Father proclaim it at some time in the future and how? That explanation also ignores the fact that the verse contrasts all sentient beings, including Jesus on one side, with the Father on the other side. If the Greek does not negate knowledge but only refers to proclamation, then it follows that all entities grouped with Jesus in contrast to the Father, do possess that knowledge of the hour but will not proclaim it.

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