Islam critiqued taps into Islamic wisdom; a balanced emotional approach to the divine ?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

The Quran says, Fear of God, awareness of the seriousness of His threats avoids one from falling into self-complacency, makes one feel obliged at all times to act upon Divine Commands and regard the righteous good deeds as insignificant in the face of divine perfection 7:99,70:24-8. This state of mind further frees one from any tinge of idolatry as it makes one aware that no protector ultimately exists outside of Allah 

6:14,51,70,17:111"Praise to Allah, who has not taken a son and has had no partner in [His] dominion and has no [need of a] protector out of weakness; and glorify Him with [great] glorification" 33:17"Say, "Who is it that can protect you from Allah if He intends for you an ill or intends for you a mercy?" And they will not find for themselves besides Allah any protector or any helper".

 Fear however can never be the sole constituent of belief, it must be balanced with 2 other elements; hope 12:87 and love for God

32:16"call upon their Sustainer in fear and in hope"  

21:90"These people exerted their utmost in righteous deeds and called upon Us with love and fear and they remained humble before Us".

From a philosophical viewpoint, fear,  whether in the natural or spiritual world, is an asset without which survival is impossible. But it must be balanced and controlled or else it leads to stagnation and even death. As is taught to us by the Creator, spiritually, fear must be balanced with love and trust.

The correct attitude is to never fall into either extreme, becoming self-complacent or hopeless of God's mercy. This upright perspective leads one to continuously strive to increase safety/iman in Allah. 

This balanced attitude is reflected in the saying of the prophet 

“If the believer knew what was with Allah of punishment, no one would hope for Paradise; and if the disbeliever knew what was with Allah of Mercy, no one would despair of attaining Paradise".

Elsewhere the Quran describes the successful as those who "hope" to meet their Lord and "hope" for His forgiveness 2:218,18:110.

This is a sign of humility, when even within the same verse, those people are reassured that Allah is surely forgiving and merciful, they still keep in mind that salvation is ultimately in God's hands

2:218"Surely those who believed and those who fled (their home) and strove hard in the way of Allah these hope for the mercy of Allah and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful".

The believer in those concepts, the one who knows what God demands of Him and what not, what His Sustainer loves in His servant and what not, continuously toils in the path of truth, without pride and self content. Contrary to the scripturally indefensible concept of an unconditionally loving God, which leads to conceit and self-righteousness, the one striving to meet God's explicit criteria of approval, constantly remains God-conscious. He remains humble, never thinking he is beyond reproach, fearing the seriousness of God's threats as well as hoping for His mercy, until he meets his Creator.

39:23"Allah has sent down the best statement: a consistent Book wherein is reiteration. The skins shiver therefrom of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts relax at the remembrance of Allah. That is the guidance of Allah by which He guides whom He wills".

The Love is evident in the word IMAN that denotes profound and sincere feeling of safety implying that one is in complete trust of a protective entity, that is, God. One cannot feel safe in an entity without having love for that entity, and knowing in turn that the entity is loving. This is where the Quran explains that this love isnt reciprocal, but more intense when coming from God. He is as al-rahman, the intensification of rahma. The root R-H-M means WOMB. Therefore in order to imagine what this word actually means one has to picture the womb and what it does to the fetus. It nurtures, protects, provides warmth, love etc. without even the fetus being aware of it. This word describes God's unconditional, intricate, unfathomable love for His creatures.

There are several literary devices the Quran uses to illustrate the concept of divine love. For example in sura fatiha. Allah is firstly called rabb/the Raiser or Sustainer. Since it is a word implying authority, and that authority doesnt necessarily evoke the concept of love, immediately after, God is called al rahman. It is in the intensive form, but another characteristic of the word is that it does not cover the future. Which is why rahim comes next, undetermined in time. This makes the rabb take care with love now by answering present needs, and does the same for later needs. However, to strike a balance in human psyche, who is now told that the master answers with intense love, the concept of accountability is introduced malik yawm eddin/master of the day of judgement. This is because intense love is most often abused of, negatively taken advantage of. So, although God's love in unconditional when it comes to caring for His creatures and making all necessary arrangements for their ultimate success, such love does not confuse His perfect justice and does not prevent Him in the least from applying the appropriate sentence no matter how severe.

This is the Quran's supreme precision, pragmatism, consistency in the manner it conveys its concepts and interconnects them from word to word, verse to verse, chapter to chapter.

Mercy is a particular attribute of God, described as being "ordained" upon God's self 6:12,54. None of the other divine attributes have been described with this expression

"kataba ala nafsihi".

This statement is meant to emphasize that Allah is merciful but also that Allah made mercy a self imposed mandate upon himself. When something is written, it conveys the sense that it is well established and solid. God is the Creator and Owner, Sustainer of the universe. He makes it function in accordance with the laws He likes and these laws are rooted in His mercy. He in addition decided to inform His servants of that self imposed commitment, yet He owes them nothing. The prophet portrayed that notion by paralleling a mother's love for her baby to God's love for His creation. While the companions were looking at a woman frantically searching for her child, the prophet said

"Do you think that this lady can throw her son in the fire?" We replied, "No, if she has the power not to throw it (in the fire)." The Prophet then said, "Allah is more merciful to His slaves than this lady to her son".

Another hadith demonstrates how, if Allah were to create anything to make it enter into one of the abodes of the hereafter, it would be to make it enter paradise 

"The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "(The people will be thrown into Hell ( Fire) and it will keep on saying, 'Is there any more?' till the Lord of the worlds puts His Foot over it, whereupon its different sides will come close to each other, and it will say, 'Qad! Qad! (enough! enough!) By Your 'Izzat (Honor and Power) and Your Karam (Generosity)!' Paradise will remain spacious enough to accommodate more people until Allah will create a new creation and let them dwell in the superfluous space of Paradise". 

These new creation could be the dwellers of hell that will eventually be admitted to paradise, or something else known to Allah.   

Divine mercy is thus hardwired into the teachings of the prophet and the Quranic revelation,

even in those passages most quoted by Islam critics attempting to cast it into an evil and wantonly violent religion. There is simply no plausible way to understand the Quran in a manner bereft of mercy and compassion. An interesting parallel can be made with a statement from the Tanakh

Psalms89:3"a world which manifests Your loving kindness, You did build".

Giving requires a receiver. So God created human beings to be the recipients of His bounty. He has brought mankind into existence and established a system of moral accountability it is therefore natural that He makes all necessary arrangements for a just retribution

41:2"A revelation from the Beneficent, the Merciful Allah".

Spiritual guidance is a natural consequence of this Mercy, despite most men being unworthy of it

43:5"shall We then turn away the reminder from you altogether because you are an extravagant people?"

Islam critiqued looks with horror; YHWH instills fear in the hearts?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

As to the HB, when the Israelites feared they might die if they continued to experience revelation and so asked of Moses to step in and be their intermediary with God, they were told that it is precisely the awe of God that humbles a person and prevents him from sin, keeps evil away, makes him walk aright and perform justice

Malachi2:5-6,Prov19:23,Ex20:16-17"in order that His awe shall be upon your faces, so that you shall not sin".

The same is stated in the Quran 79:40. As the psalmist states, the one wo performs justice and rigtheousness can only be one whose

Ps119:120"flesh bristles from fear of You, and I dread Your judgments".

Ezra to whom part of the book of Chronicles is traditionally attributed to, states, while recalling the prophet David's prayer

1Chr16:30"Quake before Him, all the earth.."

To fear God reverently is actually among the 613 commandements revealed at Sinai Deut6:13,10:20 and reiterated time and again by the prophets 1Sam12:24-5, including Solomon, the wisest of all prophets who stated when concluding the last book attributed to him that fear from, and servitude to God is the whole purpose of man's existence Ecc12:13-14. In fact the whole of creation has been arranged in such a way so as to result in fear of God for the spiritually aware, who cannot but perceive God's all-encompassing grasp in the functioning of all existence Ecc3:14.

His father David before him echoed that universal purpose, it is every human's duty, to be inculcated from the youngest age

Ps34:12,Ps33:8"Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him".

He also stated, in the context of a time where all nations will be brought low before the Jewish people and either convert to Judaism or die

Ps2:11"Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with quaking".

God fearing is a precondition for divine acceptance and guidance Ps25:12, one of the prime qualities of the righteous believer Ex18:21, up to the most respected, upright leaders of a community 2Sam23:3 and prophets

Isa8:13,Ps5:8,Ps34:10"Fear the Lord, His holy ones".

The love of YHWH certainly has degrees, it is directly proportional to the servant's fear, not love, of Him. Fear of God is the pre-condition to wisdom itself, as well as discipline, uprightness and true knowledge, and to gaining God's praise and acceptance Ps111:10,112:1,Prov1:7,8:13. David also stated that

Ps19:10"the fear of the Lord is pure"

and hence the absence of that fear is often equated with disbelief Jer2:19.

This is why the unconditionally loving YHWH will consider those who do not fear Him as worthless and deserving a severe chastisement. Those in fear of Him, more particularily of His chastisment, will be saved and rewarded Mal3:5,20,Ps85:10,Prov28:14. As the Quran equally states, fear of God, when kept in view in one's daily life and actions, inevitably leads to reward in the Hereafter 55:46,76:5-10,79:40-1.

It will be the fear of God that will animate the mythical messianic figure that will come at the end of times to restore justice and righteousness Isa11:2-5 and it is the fear of God, carved into the hearts of the Jews at the end of times that will make them walk the straight path forever Jer32:38-40.

The fear, awe and reverence to God is so deeply rooted in the teachings of Judaism that they may not pronounce what they have construed as His actual proper name

Deut28:58"fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord, your God".

Seeing God's name as so sacred that it shouldn't be mentioned is condemned as a great injustice in the Quran 2:114. The remembrance of God, praising Him by His name and attributes is an important part of a worshiper's rituals, continuously commanded in the Quran

87:1"Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High".

Islam critiqued is above the law; Conditional divine love?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

The naive depiction of a loving God that Christian missionaries keep harping upon is scripturally baseless. Both in the HB, the Greek writings, let alone the Quran. It is nothing but a missionary ploy. That is why the Quran quotes the people making a basless, verbal claim

5:18"The Jews and the Christians have said: We are the sons of God and his well-beloved ones".

The overarching Quranic principle of divine, indiscriminate justice is that none can claim favor for himself simply on account of belonging to a race or community. A Muslim will not be beloved by God just by being a Muslim. To secure God’s approbation, one must behave as a Muslim should. A Muslim is one that has recalibrated his life on all levels so as to build a relationship with God.

If one goes back to the HB, one notices that the pervasive emotion the religion demands in relation to God, isnt love but fear. The Quran describes the righteous in the hereafter as the one who "khashiya" the beneficient God without seeing Him in this world. The word denotes fear of Allah not only on account of the fear of His punishment as is the case with "khawf", but it stresses a sense of humility and awe at Allah's glory and greatness, something only the ones who ponder and reflect at the higher meanings of things can achieve, hence the repeated statements that

35:28"only those of His servants fear Allah who have knowledge".

The verse ends with a statement that infuses hope in the God-conscious

"verily Allah is Mighty, Forgiving".

Many Quranic passages follow that pattern of balancing the attributes of God among one another, in order to infuse hope after a warning or a feeling of reassurance following glad tidings. Such is the case in 85:4-14 first mentioning the just and severe requital of a group of criminals, then the praise of the righteous, and the passage concludes with

"And He is the Forgiving/ghafur, the Loving/wadud".

Both words amplify the concepts to the utmost; He is 'forgiving' of the sins of those sinners who repent, and is 'Loving' to the servants who are good-doers. This illustrates the concept of iman/feeling of safety in Allah (as will be detailed shortly). It is a balance between fear, hope, love.

Islam critiqued does mental guesses; Was the prophet Muhammad aware of biblical prophecies related to him?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

Since Muhammad was destined to be the seal of the line of prophethood and that no warner would be sent to mankind till the Day of Resurrection, past prophets and scriptures made clear his imminent arrival in such a way that people would have no difficulty in recognizing him. The Quran and the prophetic traditions allude in many places to the predictions of the Ishmaelite prophet in previous scriptures. Not all prophets were foretold by their predecessors.

For example, no prophecy in the HB applies to Jesus just like most Israelite prophets have no prophecies about them. But in the case of the last prophet and the importance of his final message, the matter was different. The Quran reinforces the notion that the predictions about Muhammad are so clear that

6:20,2:146"those to whom We have given the scripture recognize him as they recognize their own sons".

This verse echoes what the prominent Jewish Rabbi of Medina, Abdullah ibn Salam used to say as regards the prophet Muhammad

"Certainly, I have greater knowledge of this Muḥammad than my knowledge of my son".

The Quran would mention the reaction of such early converts among the Jews and Christians

5:83"hear what has been revealed to the messenger you will see their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize; they say: Our Lord! we believe, so write us down with the witnesses (of truth)".

The Quran speaks in sura Baqara of the predictions of the HB regarding Muhammad in the context of the covenant established with the Israelites at Mt Sinai, emphasizing that the context of the prophecy is the promulgation of a new law and the birth of a nation under God.

Muslims throughout the ages have used the Bible to prove Muhammad was foretold by previous prophets. This was and still is a proselytizing strategy aimed at Jews and Christians. The idea is to have a common ground for discussion with those religious groups, after which Islamic teachings are introduced. There are however other proselytizing approaches Muslims have taken, namely pointing to the inconsistent, incomplete theologies of other systems in comparison to Islam, or naturalistic arguments, or simply presenting Islamic teachings by themselves for the audience to appreciate. Going back to the argument from the viewpoint of prophecy, Muslims didnt alter any text nor invent reports so as to create the striking parallelisms that can be seen between the Bible, the Quran and the authentic Islamic traditions. We thus see the prophet himself addressing those Jews that did not believe in him, telling them to honestly look into the writings in their hands and draw the relevant conclusions, as some of the most learned in their community did

 "I adjure you to tell me if you find in that revelation which Allah sent down to You, that you should believe in Muhammad. If you cannot find that in your scripture, no displeasure will fall on you. Guidance will be distinguishable from error, and I invite you to Allah and to His prophet".

Christians on the other hand are notorious for their distortions of the meaning and of the text itself so as to retrofit their christologies into the HB. The text of the Septuagint, the Greek rendering of the HB is known for its numerous mistranslations. But the NT text is by far the most corrupt. The anonymous writers create impossible scenarios, are anachronistic, fabricate genealogies, misquote the Hebrew writings, allude to non existent HB prophecies so as to allign their Jesus character with the previous writings.

Islam critiqued is dazzled; the Islamic unprejudiced ideology?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

Muhammad was inspired following the same pattern as other known illustrious men before him were, including many unnamed and forgotten ones, whether among the tribes of Israel (Jewish tradition holds that thousands were sent to them) or outside of them

4:163-4"We inspired towards you as We inspired towards Noah and the prophets from after him. And We inspired towards Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the children (of Jacob)/alasbat and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon. And we brought to David, Psalm. And (We sent) apostles We have mentioned to you before and apostles we have not mentioned to you; and to Musa, Allah addressed His Word, speaking (to him)."

As shown above through the attitude of Jews and Christians in whose creed one must acknowledge the superiority of one prophet above all others, Islam, truly earns its name as the "willful surrender unto God" instead of surrendering to one's prejudice and desires. 

Just as it calls and presents the prophet Muhammad as no more than a humble slave of Allah, Jesus is equally shown as powerless without Allah's will and in entire submission to Him. That description is appropriate given the Christians' raising him to divine status. Moses likewise, seen as the wisest of all prophets by the Jews, is shown humbling himself before another of God's messengers who far surpassed him in wisdom and knowledge of the unseen. This again is highly appropriate given the particular exaltation the Jews give him in comparison to other prophets.

The Quran in addition admonishes against the attitude of claiming belief in God but rejecting a particular prophet 4:150. Those who do so simply do not like the message from the God they claim to believe in, it threatens their sinful ways and prevents them from pursuing their evil interests.

Muslims are warned not to fall in the same prejudice and error of the Jews and Christians who each gave such absolute reverence to a particular prophet that they regarded and still do, the acceptance of a new prophet with a different message as a denial of the superiority of their revered figure.

In 45:16-18 the Quran addresses Muhammad, telling him just as another nation was vouchsafed revelation, he too is now chosen and put on the straight path, thus stressing the continuation of the divine message.

Stress is also laid, in different ways, on the principle that rejecting one messenger amounts to rejecting all the messengers because all of them had brought one and the same message from Allah 26:105,123,141,160,176.

Islam critiqued finds Islamic universalism; equal reverence to all prophets?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

Muslims must regard all prophets and messengers as equals 2:136,3:84, but from Allah's perspective He has exalted some above others in particular aspects 2:253,17:55 like in the manner in which revelation was bestowed upon them or in the type of signs they were given to confirm their prophethood, or in the universality of their message.

Moses spoke to and was spoken to directly and repeatedly by Allah 4:164,7:143 possibly because he needed a special kind of reassurance considering the magnitude of the opposition, whether internal with the rebellious Israelites or external with the ruthless Pharao. 

Jesus was a living sign of Allah to the people, along with his mother 21:91,23:50 and the RUH al qudus/breeze of holiness was working with him, under Allah's command and control, allowing him the performance of spectacular signs 2:87,253,5:110. The RUH al qudus/breeze of holiness, besides its basic role of inspiration, gave him the strength and aptitude to perform the miracles that he did. Jesus' association to the RUH do not however make any of them divine. It was a tool sent upon Jesus as was sent on all prophets and regular believers, each time for the purpose for which Allah intends for it. God's breathing from His RUH in every human being doesnt make us or part of us divine 32:9,38:71-2. Ruhana/our breeze or breath is attached to God's name to stress its greatness, the particular connection it creates between the recipient and Allah, as is stated concerning the righteous

 58:22"These are they into whose hearts He has impressed faith, and whom He has strengthened with a RUH from Him/minhu". 

And just as the Quran associates the RUH with Jesus, it does the same with the prophet Muhammad in the context of divine inspiration 16:102. The RUH sent by Allah, under His command, affects multiple people at once like the wind would. Similar usage is seen with the house of Allah or the month of Allah or the sakina of Allah/the soothing calmness that filled Muhammad and the believers, or the love from Allah bestowed upon Moses 20:39 etc. None of those things are considered parts of Allah, having any intrinsic power, or emanating from within His essence, or sharing in His divinity.

Jesus' mention with the RUH is among the patterns of the Quran of taking up the most cherished christological themes, then strip them from their paganistic implications.

David is often singled out, even in comparison to Muhammad, for the scripture he received. The exact aspect by which the original Psalm, now lost, excelled all other divine scriptures may be hard to define, but it could be in terms of beauty through its description of the hymns to God by all creation.

Both the Quran and the HB speak of non-human creation joining David in his prayers to God.

There is a very deep and relevant reason for which the Quran in 2:253 has specifically pointed out Moses and Jesus in the context of God's exaltedness of some prophets above others in particular aspects. The Jews regard it as an article of faith to declare Moses the greatest of all prophets that preceded and followed him, precisely because of the reason mentioned in the verse, ie the manner in which God spoke to him without intermediaries like angels.

This discrimination reflects even in the manner in which they have classified and canonized their books, following a descending order of "holiness" depending on the manner in which God communicated with the personalities who authored them. For example the Hebrew Bible is composed first and foremost of the Torah of Moses, viewed as the most sacred of all, then come the books of nevi'im/prophets that are considered holy but not as much as the Torah since although the prophets who wrote these books communicated with God, their interaction with Him were indirect or "blurry" ie through visions or dreams that required interpretation. The last books of the Hebrew bible are the ketuvim/writings, also regarded as holy, but even on a lesser degree than the nevi'im/prophets because their authors -not considered prophets- did not communicate with God, but either through intermediaries like angels, as in Daniel's case whom Rabbis have still not agreed whether he is a prophet or not, or through the ruach hakodesh/spirit of holiness (what the Quran calls ruh alqudus/breath or spirit of holiness). With the passage of time, the years of suffering and exile, and the ensuing loss of the Torah and knowledge of Jewish history, even the praise given to Moses diminished in favor of a new prophetic figure. Ezra, because of his role in re-introducing the Torah, both as a text and in practice, to the exiled Jews, was seen as deserving of having received the revelation of Sinai as Moses was 

"R. Yossi says: “Ezra was fit to have the Torah given to Israel by him, if it weren’t for the fact that Moses came before him.”

Christians on the other hand regard Jesus to be the greatest of all prophets sent to mankind, even raising him to the status of a deity, precisely because of those qualities spoken of in 2:253 and that Allah made to shine through him more than with other prophets; the manifestation of the holy spirit through him and the wonders he performed.

That is where the Quran steps in, saying that all prophets received clear signs 57:25 and all of them received God's spirit/breath of prophecy carried down into their hearts by angelic messengers 16:2 and although God's spirit filled some prophets with more intensity than others, were able to perform more spectacular signs than others, or were sometimes spoken to without angelic intermediaries, it is Allah who, in His wisdom, has exalted them in some particular aspects.

Therefore from a true believer's perspective it is not befitting to discriminate among God's messengers in terms of status, holiness or relevancy, or in light of the manner God communicated with them. There is no real standard to use as a reference anyway, since the process of inspiration is something of which very little knowledge has been imparted to us 17:85. This reflects in the prophet Muhammad's warning to his addressees not to raise him in status even above the prophet Jonas/Yunus

"No slave (of Allah) should say that I am better than Yunus bin Matta.” So the Prophet mentioned his father’s name with his name".

This is an interesting pattern in the history of prophethood that not a single prophet ever declared his superiority over another. Except in the Gospels' depiction of Jesus, proclaiming his eminence in relation to the prophet Jonah and Solomon in one breath Matt12.

The prophet condemned a zealous follower who overstepped the limits by slapping a man who was speaking of the superiority of Moses on Muhammad, saying it is wrong to engage in discussions discriminating among prophets. He sometimes praised the superiority of character of certain prophets. For example he once said he would not have had Yusuf's strength of character when he provided the interpretation of the king's dream while unjustly imprisoned

"I would not have done so until I put a condition on them that they let me out...May Allah have mercy on Yusuf.  May Allah bless him for his patience, and Allah will forgive him.  I could not have done that..."

The Tanakh itself discards these discriminatory criteria at once when it states, concerning all prophets, including since the time of their exodus with Moses whom they regard as the chief of all prophets

Hosea12:10"I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them".

All of them are true prophets, no mention of grades despite the different visions they received.
Muslims are required first and foremost as one of the pillars of faith to believe in the existence and truthfulness of all of God's envoys, humans or angels 2:177,285.

Secondly, as regards the human messengers, they must be revered and accepted on the same level, not making any distinction between them in terms of status.  In order to stress that particular point to its audience among the people of the book, who were most guilty of that type of partisanship, the Quran, a revelation bestowed upon the Ishmaelite prophet, mentions the Abrahamic lineage and the illustrious names among them. It starts with the common spiritual ancestor Abraham, then his 2 righteous sons and prophets, Ishmael and Isaac, then demonstrates the correct mindframe as regards the noble institution of prophethood. It firstly praises the Israelite line of prophets, citing Jacob, and implicitly the many prophets that were sent among his descendants (al asbat), with the 2 most influential being Moses and Jesus, then ends with a general mention of "the prophets" that includes all of God's envoys sent to the world

3:84,4:152,2:136"Say:'We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down to Abraham and, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and to the prophets from their Lord. We make no difference between any of them. And to Him do we submit".

Again, these verses are Medinian, addressing the people of the book and demonstrating its unprejudiced and non-discriminatory perspective. That is why it only passingly alludes to the Abrahamic line through Ishmael (implicitly in 3:33), focusing instead on the line of its addressees who are from the line of Jacob/Israel.

It is worthwhile to note the term used in the Quran when speaking of the continuous sending of prophets following Moses in 2:87. It says qafayna, derived from q-f-w meaning the back of the neck. The verb means to follow (because you follow the back of someone). It is a word used to describe a poetically structured text or speech because it denotes a close, synchronized, harmonious succession. In the same way, the prophets were closely synchronized in their message, and Allah in the Quran repeatedly states how all revelations are one in essence 46:9,21:7-10,4:163.

This by the way not only is meant at denying any discrimination among them, but it also means that none of those noble personalities deviated in the message he was conveying so as to depart from a well established pattern.

This implies that Jesus, an Israelite prophet in a long line of prophets, would have never asked to be worshiped so as to depart from the pattern of his predecessors. 

YHWH appeared to the Biblical prophets? He spoke to them directly?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

God does not interract directly with the people and even when He spoke to the Israelites, He did not manifest Himself physically. He bestows the light of inspiration and prophethood on an individual -human or else 6:9,130,11:69,17:95,22:75,35:1- from any nation to lead it to the straight path 3:73-4,179,6:88,17:65,28:68,40:15,42:13,14:11,16:93. It is so because not all people are fit to receive Revelation 2:118-9,6:124,74:52 just like not any type of electrical cable can absorb high voltage directly from the energy source.

The Israelites made that experience when revelation descended on them collectively, and consequently requested the experience to stop, fearing they would die. They then appointed Musa as their sole intermediary with God.

His guidance is not restricted 2:89-90,142,26:28,55:17,37:5,73:9 and sends it to all indiscriminately, like water from the clouds to answer the human need for spiritual guidance

The pattern of revelation in this case is again very similar among the Israelites and Ishmaelite prophet. Divine inspiration transmitted to an individual by an angel is not something unique to Muhammad. Although the Tanakh (like the Quran) recognizes that every prophet receives the ruh/ruach that allows divine inspiration, it is mostly silent on whom the carrier of that inspiration is, except in Daniel's case whose visions, prophetic dreams and inspiration were brought by a third party, who was none other than the angel Gabriel/Jibreel Dan7:15,8:16,9:21. The fact that Gabriel is referred to as "a man" is due to his appearance in the form of a man in Daniel's vision. Gabriel, along with another angel, would later appear to Daniel while awake, but still in the shape of a man. He was sent to Daniel to reveal to him the meaning of a frightening vision he had. Again in

Dan9:21"While I was still speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I saw in the vision at first, approached me in swift flight about the time of the evening offering".

Gabriel proceeded by transmitting divine revelation upon Daniel.

Moses himself is described as receiving his ever first communication with God through an angel Ex3:2. Other prophets received revelation through angels. In dreams, Jacob was regularily visited by angelic messengers Gen31:11. Same for Elisha 2Kings1:3 or Zechariah's angelic visions later on throughout the book attributed to him. In fact we read that when God intends to speak with a prophet, He does so through an angel Numb22:20,35 and it was enough for the prophet Iddo to be convinced of the truthfulness of a man claiming to be a prophet when the latter said he received revelation through an angel 1Kings13:18.

Prophetic revelation through angels, and more particularily through Gabriel, was therefore an already well established knowledge at least among the people of the book before the beginning of Muhammad's mission.

The prophet himself claimed very early on in Mecca as seen from the above verses, that it was an angel who was carrying down revelation to him, not directly through God. The non-believing Arabs, who also believed in the existence of angels but had corrupted it by calling them God's daughters, echoed that claim by challenging him to show those angels of revelation 15:6-7. The Quran would reply to this demand and other similar ones that firstly angels, when they enter the physical realm, only appear in human form and that second, should they ever be sent as per the request of a disbelieving people, then the punishment would immidiately follow.

The HB does not grade the prophets according to their revelational experience, there are no half-prophets and minor prophets. It is the Talmudic scholars that discriminate between these personalities based on the manner in which God communicated with them.

For example Moses is considered the most superior -and Jews a required to acknowledge that superiority in their creed- because God spoke directly with him. All others are less in status because divine comunication was in a less direct manner, in a "blurry" fashion, through visions (in sleep or awake).

 And the most distant mode of divine comunication is believed to be either through the ruach hakodesh/spirit of holiness or through angels. Those persons arent considered prophets anymore, but simply holy individuals with a faint level of divine inspiration.

With these principles in mind, Talmudic scholars are nevertheless in disagreement whether to consider Daniel, one with whom God comunicated through angels and visions, as already pointed earlier, a prophet or not.

The Tanakh on the other hand discards these discriminatory criteria at once when it states, concerning all prophets, including since the time of their exodus with Moses whom they regard as the chief of all prophets

Hosea12:10"I spoke to the prophets, gave them many visions and told parables through them". 

All of them are true prophets, no mention of grades despite the different visions they received. We also read that the spirit of God descending on an individual is always a pre-condition for prophethood.

Even a regular person receiving the spirit of God automatically becomes a prophet Numb11:16-30. When the prophets David and Solomon were visited in dreams by "the Lord", it obviously doesnt mean God physically appeared to them, which would by the way render their revelational experience "superior" to Moses' prophetic dreams. God visiting these men means He made His will known to them through some means, like the angels 1Kings3:5. Not in one instance is there any prophet who was in this way "visited by the Lord" ever speaking of having literally seen the divine essence.

The Quran addresses this discriminatory criteria they make in many places.

Islam critiqued loves his fellow; evangelical zionism?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

Today, the evangelical zionist movement that finds its inspiration in Paul's above deceptive methods, masks its real intentions towards the Jewish people by corrupting their audience with money. Probably no nation needs this money more than Israel for its survival, exactly as God prophecised when He stated in the Quran that the Israelites, those who rejected Jesus, will be under the Christians' dominion until the Resurrection 61:14,3:55. This bribe money serves the purpose of gathering Jews from all over the world so a mythical end time is ushered.

At that time 2/3 of Israel will be destroyed and damned for rejecting the man/god of the trinity. Their Armageddon theology is detailed in the book of Revelation -a Book not even considered God inspired until very late in Church history-. Those damned Jews, the Jews of the "flesh" ie devoid of any spirituality because of their rejection of Jesus Rom2:28-9, those sons of Satan Jn8:44, worshipping in their satanic synagogues Rev2:9 will be made to bow down at the feet of the true Jews, ie the Christians Rev3:9 prior to their eternal damnation. Jews who do not accept Christianity are characterized as worshipers of Satan, hence, the expression “synagogue of Satan.” The author of Revelation declares that Jews of the “flesh” who do not become “true” Jews (that is, Christians) worship Satan and are destined to someday be subdued and come to bow down at the feet of Jesus’ beloved church.

It is these kinds of satanic association that helped produce a portrait for faithful Christians throughout the centuries of the “evil” Jew whose deeds on behalf of Satan took on ominous proportions. No wonder that the church and its faithful followers sought to hasten the day when Jesus would fulfill his promise to “make them [the synagogue of Satan] come and bow down at your feet” by persecution of those satanic Jews.

Islam critiqued unveils the dark hero; a false Christian prophet?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

As to the case of Paul alluded to above, it says in Deut18 that

"a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say...must be put to death"

and paul admitted speaking occasionaly his own words but still in God's name 1Cor7:25,2Cor8:8. How can "all scripture" be "God-breathed" 2Tim3:16 while at the same time including the words of one admitting to speak his own words, the same person who, as will be shown below, overtly encouraged deception as a legitimate missionary tactic? Contrast this with the forceful Quranic statement that

69:44-47"if the messenger were to invent any sayings in Our name, We should certainly seize him by his right hand, And We should certainly then cut off the artery of his heart: Nor could any of you withhold him (from Our wrath)".

Also

Deut18:22"When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously"

Paul fell flat on his face regarding his predictions on Jesus' second coming.

Even the NT's criteria compromise Paul's self-proclaimed divine authority. The false prophet is one that forbids marriage 1Tim4:1-3. Paul advised not to marry 1Cor7:1. The false prophet

"will bring the way of truth (ie the way of Jesus which his direct followers testified to) into disrepute"2Pet2:2

and Paul interpreted Jesus' teachings in ways which led to disputes between him and Jesus' early followers whom he sarcastically called "super apostles" and further considered himself superior to them, proudly declaring he "learned nothing" from them Gal2:6-9. This is the sheer arogance of one who never knew or met Jesus 2Cor11:4-5,22-24.

There is a reason why Paul's letters display their ignorance of, if not purposefully dismiss the writings attributed to Jesus' disciples. It is said that false prophets'

"greed..will exploit you with stories they have made up"2Pet2:3

and Paul who had several contradicting versions of his alleged encounter with a "light" admitted using deception in his modus operandi

"I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it...crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery"2Cor12:11,16.

He openly encouraged lying when preaching Jesus, becoming like a Jew to win the Jew, and becoming like a gentile (one not under the law) to win the gentile Phil1:15-18,1Cor9:19-21, because

"The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached"

in order to

"win as many as possible".

The interesting result was that Christians not only were very successful at converting pagans (much less so with the Jews) but pagans in turn transformed Christianity into a hodge podge of neo-judeo/greco-roman religion, born at the council of Nicea in 325CE, in Alexandria which was the center of Hellenistic philosophies. This is in sharp contrast to what the Quran says about the inadmissibility of using deceitful and disgraceful means for the propagation of Truth

16:92-95,125"Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and have disputations with them in the best manner".

This strategy helped him gather funds -not for the poor and needy- for the establishement and reenforcement of the Churches throughout the Roman empire and beyond 1Cor15,16,2Cor8,9. This fits another description of a false prophet in Micah3:11 whose motivation is money. It is from Paul's teachings and method of approaching the Jews that the Evangelical Zionists derive their missionary tactics. It consists in showing the Jews a strong support that they might be

"provoked into jealousy"

so that they might be convinced that God's help has come from the followers of the one they rejected (Jesus) because

Rom11"if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!".

Paul has a very peculiar feature, and that is one who consistently is found swearing that whatever he has is from God, contrary to what is preached in the New Testament, where Jesus is reported to have stated that such a thing was a quality of the Pharisees. Further, the very 'gospel' he was alleged to preach contradicted not just what was being taught in Galilee, but what was being taught in the Temple of Jerusalem itself. Paul was attacked in that Temple for what he was claiming.

By the end of his life, he had to seek refuge with the pagan Roman Authority, because people, which were obviously his enemies within the other factions, wanted to kill him.

Islam critiqued finds Islamic criteria; Does Quran identify prophets?

In answer to the video "Was Muhammad a False Prophet?"

In the Quran, through the story of ancient nations and prophets, it establishes a pattern by which to determine the truthfulness of one claiming prophethood. As previously stated, these are; uprightness in character which includes an unflinching, uncompromising stance as regards his mission, to have been foretold by previous prophets, having access to special knowledge, and prophecies coming true. This includes warnings of punishment for fighting and opposing the messengers. The Quran places Muhammad inside that pattern of the prophets, at a time when none, not even the nascent Muslim community whose fear and reluctance to engage in military confrontation is related in the Quran, could have imagined for him and his small band of followers to become victorious and establish themselves 37:171-182.

Muhammad then effectively rises up and says to his tribe that they will meet a similar fate. He made the claim while in a state of weakness, and augmenting his rhetoric that should have antagonized his people against him instead of gaining him followers. As expected the people then oppose the message and prevent the people from it and get punished by the sword. End of the matter. None after him came with any of the following and was able to back his claims up:

1) comes from a common background of his addressees, meaning they know him very well, yet claims to be a Messenger, in fact the Final Messenger of God

2) warns his people of Divine chastisement

3) the chastisement comes home to roost and the partisans of the Prophet are established in the land
This is the exact process that occurred with the Bani Israil in the time of Moses, with the drowning of the host of Pharaoh and the deliverance of the Israelites, with the uprooting of the Canaanites and the establishment of the way of God. Not to mention, the Quranic invitation to the Arabs to see or recall for themselves the fate of the deniers of Nuh, Lut, Saleh, Shuayb, Hud... It is a Book of Warning that has already delivered its judgment in this world

53:36"This is a warner of the warners of old"  

54:42-5"Are the unbelievers of yours better than these, or is there an exemption for you in the scriptures?...Soon shall the hosts be routed, and they shall turn (their) backs".

As said in Deuteronomy regarding the awaited prophet

"If any man will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name, I myself will make him answer for it".

God Almighty says that Prophethood has ended with the Prophet Muhammad. The Prophet bore witness to the unity of God, and his deniers were punished in this life. For those who claimed to be Prophets after him did they remain unvanquished as per the tradition of Allah, did they emerge as triumphant leaders or does their life and death fail to bear witness to their claims?

For example Musaylima emerged shortly after the Prophet's death and was killed under the orders of Abu Bakr. Before him and contemporaneous to the prophet was Saf Ibn Sayyad. He would eventually be completely discredited and in fact convert to Islam. I will speak of him in more details in another video.

Another one was Bahaullah - though later his followers branched off into the Bahai faith which is based on the nice concept of unity of religions- he died a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire. There is also Mirza Ghulam Ahmad from Qadian, Punjab - his death is widely cited to be from either one of these diseases - cholera, diarrhoea, plague, or dysentery. Besides numerous prophecies regarding the timing and manner of his death were left unfulfilled - though Ahmadis now interpret those in a metaphorical manner- but the manner of death is hardly inspiring for one claiming to be a Prophet.

There is then Rashad Khalifa who was a modern claimant based on his theory of the number 19's pattern in the Quran. Well, besides being accused of paedophilia, he was assassinated and his theories entirely discredited.

But above all, their theories did not prevail and either remained confined to a small number of followers or were simply lost and forgotten shortly after their death.

Another modern claimant was Joseph Smith in the US who started the Latter Day Saints movement and is the founder of Mormonism. He too was unfortunately assassinated. As a side note even the Mormon story has more grounds to stand on from the point of view of authenticity, than the NT story, in that there are actually known then-living individuals who executed an affidavit saying that they had, themselves, seen something of the Mormon story whereas the NT is written by anonymous people with no first hand information decades after the alleged, unsubstantiated life of the NT Jesus.

Of all the new religions that have sprung up after Islam, one may perhaps say Sikhism is also there. But Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, never claimed for himself Prophethood. Also, Sikhism emerged as a reform movement intertwined between Hinduism and Islam. The holy book Guru Granth contains quotes from Sufi saints as well.

One may also mention the case of Paul of Tarsus.

On the face of it, finality of Prophethood seems to be a tenuous claim. After all, potentially anyone can stand up and say that he is a Prophet of God - but so far all the instances in which this has happened has failed to even come close to the scale and scope of the Prophet Muhammad's mission.

Also, if we examine the entire career of these claimants - they have singularly and absolutely failed to match the life-chart of Prophet Muhammad and moreover their death poses even more questions than their life. What is even more interesting that none of them claimed to be the final Prophet, much less Jesus who predicted the coming of a powerful figure after him, the Paraclete, that shall bring justice to the world. That is also the topic of another video.