Answer to Question No. 1

In support of his assertion, the critic has quoted an incomplete verse of Surah Al-Baqarah. The complete verse is as follows:

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When viewed in context of the preceding and following verses, it becomes amply clear that the subject under consideration is neither Prophethood nor the Holy Quran. The only point being stated is that, from now on, Muslims should pray with their faces turned towards the Kaaba and not towards Jerusalem. "This is the Truth", says God, meaning that the Kaaba is the direction for prayer that had been appointed from the very beginning, and this is a fact which has been recorded in ancient Scriptures. Therefore, (O reader of the Book) be not among those who are prone to doubt.2 The verses which follow continue to deal with the same subject. Allah says:

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That is: From wheresoever thou comest forth, turn thy face towards the Kaaba; for that indeed is the truth from thy Lord.

It is obvious that these verses relate to the Kaaba and to nothing else. Since the commandment requiring worshippers to turn towards the Kaaba in their prayers is a general injunction addressed to all believers—some of whom, due to their susceptible dispositions, may be prone to doubt and uncertainty—they have been told not to be troubled as to why they have turned their faces towards the Kaaba while they had previously been offering their prayers facing Jerusalem. They were told that there is nothing new in the change, for, it had been ordained right from the beginning and had been foretold by the Prophets of God. They should, therefore, not be in any doubt about it.

The other verse which the critic has quoted to support his claim is from Surah Al-An‘am, which is given here with its accompanying verses:

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That is: Shall I seek for judge anyone other than Allah, when He it is Who has sent down to you the comprehensive Book. And those to whom We gave the Book (i.e., who have been given knowledge of the Quran) know full well that it has been sent down from thy Lord; so (O reader) be not of those who doubt.

A look at these verses makes it quite apparent that 'those who doubt' are those who have thus far partaken only a small portion of faith, certitude and knowledge. It also appears from the verses quoted above that, 'be not of those who doubt,' are the words of the Holy Prophet(sa) himself, which have been quoted by the Holy Quran. The passage begins with these words, which can only have been spoken by Holy Prophet(sa): The idiomatic translation of these verses would be as follows: I cannot appoint anyone but Allah as judge to judge between you and me. And He is the One Who has sent down to you this Book clearly explained. So those who have been given knowledge of the Book know also that this Book is from God. Therefore, thou (ignorant one), be not of those who doubt.

This proves that it was not the Holy Prophet(sa) who was in doubt, rather he admonished those who were in doubt through testimony and argument. To claim, in the face of such a clear statement, that the Holy Prophet(sa) was in doubt about his own Prophethood, betrays nothing but gross ignorance and sheer prejudice.

Someone may think that if it were the new converts or sceptics—weak of faith—who were being admonished for their doubts, the address should have been in the plural 'you', not the singular 'thou'. What is the reason for using the second person singular, instead of the second person plural, when the weak of faith are likely to be many and not just one? The answer is that the singular is often used for a class as a whole, which denotes plurality. You only have to read the Holy Quran from beginning to end to realize that this is the idiom commonly used by the Holy Quran. It frequently addresses a class of people in the form of an individual. Let us take, for example, the following verses:

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That is: Set not up with Allah another God lest thou sit down disgraced and forsaken. Thy Lord has commanded: Do not serve anyone but Allah and worship none but Him, and show kindness to parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age with thee, never say unto them any word expressive of disgust, nor reproach them, but address them with kind words. And lower to them the wing of humility out of tenderness. And say: My Lord, have mercy on them even as they nourished me in my childhood.

It is evident from these verses that the use of the second person singular relates to the umma, and it has been used more than once in these very verses. The addressee is not the Holy Prophet(sa), for the verses teach respect and obedience to parents, and we know that the Holy Prophet’s(sa) parents had passed away in his early childhood.

It is established from this verse and from numerous other verses that addressing a class of people in the form of an individual, is a common idiom of the Holy Quran. The same idiom is used in the commandments of the Torah, which are apparently addressed to a single person, but are intended for the Israelites as a whole. We have an example of this in Exodus, Chapters 33 and 34, where Moses(as) is the apparent addressee: (11) Observe thou that which I command thee this day. (12) Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest. (17) Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

When viewed in their context, it becomes clear that though these verses apparently address only one person, i.e., Moses(as), he is not the one for whom the commandments are really intended; for he never went to Canaan, nor could we expect a Man of God and an idol-breaker like Moses(as) to be guilty of the sin of idolatry. There was no need, therefore, to warn him against it. Moses(as), after all, is the man of God whom He has honoured with the following words in this very chapter: "For thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name." (Exodus:17)

Remember, the same style is used by the Holy Quran. Both the Torah and the Holy Quran address their commandments to Moses(as) and the Holy Prophet(sa), respectively, but the commandments are intended for their respective ummas. Those who are ignorant of this style, may naively imagine that these commandments and warnings are addressed to the Prophets who received them, but a little reflection over the context of these verses shows that this is a complete misconception.

The objection is shown to be completely unfounded when we analyze the verses in which God praises the Holy Prophet’s(sa) perfect faith. He says: 6 That is: Say, I have received from my Lord clear proofs of the truth of my Prophethood. In another verse He says:

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That is: Say, this is my path, so with full and certain knowledge do I invite you to Allah. In yet another verse, God says:

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That is: Allah has sent down to you the Book and Wisdom, i.e., He has revealed to you proofs of the truthfulness of the Book and your Prophethood, and has taught you that you could not know by yourself, and great is Allah’s grace upon you.

Then, in Surah Al-Najm, God says:

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That is: The heart of the Holy Prophet(sa) never denied the heavenly signs of his truthfulness that he saw, which means that he was never in doubt about them. The eye wandered not to the right, nor to the left, nor did it transgress the limit, rather it settled right on the truth and stuck to it. Surely, he saw the greatest of the signs of his Lord.

O readers, and lovers of the truth! Consider with justice and fairness, how expressly God Almighty has informed us that the Holy Prophet(sa) possessed perfect insight and full conviction, and his Prophethood was true, and great signs were shown in his support.

In short, there is not a word, not a jot, in the Holy Quran, which even remotely suggests that the Holy Prophet(sa) was ever in doubt about being a Prophet, and about the Holy Quran being the Divine word. The truth is that the perfect certainty, insight and conviction, to which the Holy Prophet(sa) laid claim, and then proved, finds no parallel in any existing Scripture.

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Let it be noted that the Gospels12 attribute to Jesus(as) words which imply that, in his last days, he had begun to doubt whether he was really a Prophet and whether he enjoyed Divine support. For instance, right on the eve of his departure from this world—a time for the men of God to manifest their conviction and the blessings of their faith— Jesus uttered the words 'Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?', which means, 'O my God, O my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?' What is more, it was also his wont to run away from places where he apprehended the mischief of his opponents, despite the fact that God had already given him assurances of security. Both these circumstances betray doubt and bewilderment. And when we see him crying and supplicating through the night for the tragedy—of which he had prior knowledge—to be averted, we realize that he was in doubt about everything.

We have set out these illustrations only to point out the folly of the Christians, who have raised these objections against the Holy Prophet(sa). Otherwise, we are quite capable of answering these questions, and vindicating our dear Messiah—who was not above human weaknesses and frailties—of all such allegations, by simply negating his divinity and 'sonship'. But it will be an arduous task indeed for our Christian brothers to do so.