Muhammad was not a theologian, or a learned man. He did not have a set of rules or theories about God. He was simply a very devout person to whom God had chosen to make Himself known.
Revelation
The closest experience a non-religious person can get to religious awareness is probably loved. Imagine you have been happy and contented as a child, enjoying life and play.
Suddenly you fall desperately in love, and discover a new range of overwhelming joy, belonging, and agonized suffering that you never knew existed.
Your whole life takes on a new meaning, and you can never go back to being unaware and contented as you were before.
A door has opened, and you have gone through it. You cannot explain your experience to a child who has no awareness of it.
There are other moments of truth in life: the realization that you are totally alone and no one can help you but yourself (and God); childbirth; the discovery that you are going to die.
All these moments are flashes of enlightenment, and after experiencing them your life is totally changed and you can never go back.
Discovery or awareness of God is the most shattering moment of all, and is often spoken of as being ‘born again‘, because the experience is so devastating. Everything becomes different, everything has a new meaning, everything falls into place. New believers look at everything in a completely new light, and the whole motivation and interest of their life changes.
Conviction
You can be good and honourable and kind without ever experiencing this awareness, but when it comes, perhaps the most obvious change that comes over a person is conviction.
To know God is to submit. To accept Him is to hand over ordinary life and begin to live a guided life. It is conviction that is the mark of the prophet.
‘Wait with patience for your Lord’s commands; and don’t be like the prophet Jonah who cried out in agony. If grace from his Lord had not reached him he would indeed have been cast off on the naked shore, in disgrace. But your Lord chose him, and placed him among the righteous. Unbelievers might well stare at you and abuse you, and call you mad – but you have nothing less than a message to all the world.’ (surah Al-Qalam, 68: 48-52)
Muhammad related the messages to his friends, whose duty it was to memorize them and write them down, so that nothing of the message might be lost. It is important to realize that all Muslims accept without question that these messages were not just the thoughts and teachings of Muhammad, which were a different matter altogether, but the words of God revealed through the angel Jibra’il.
• The special revelations were always attended by dramatic phenomena, like shaking or trances.
• Muhammad always knew when they were about to happen.
• Normally he lay down covered in his cloak.
• Sometimes he seemed to lose consciousness.
• Sometimes he became very hot and would be soaked in sweat, even in cold weather.
• Sometimes the voice did not come through clearly. One tradition claims that on these occasions his head seemed to be ringing with noises like muffled bells, a painful and frustrating sound, for he could not work out what the voice was saying. At other times the revelation was quite clear, and he heard the words plainly.
• Sometimes the message came instantaneously, while he was out riding, or being questioned by the public.
• On a few occasions God spoke to him through Jibra’il, the angel who appeared in the form of a man.
Muhammad’s visions always appeared to make him feel close to death, and that he was leaving his body and might not re-enter it. At the end of the experience he would appear as usual again, sit up, and repeat the message.
‘Not once did I receive a revelation without thinking that my soul had been torn away.’ (Hadith)
• Muslims believe, therefore, that the Qur’an is not a book written by Muhammad, but the word of God exactly as he received it. Muhammad was simply the instrument by which the words were revealed.
• The Qur’an is not a book about Muhammad, although sometimes, when the events and problems of Muhammad’s personal life caused difficulties, a revelation would come to him with specific instructions for dealing with that problem.
• Muhammad faced many people in his lifetime who did not believe in him. They challenged him to work a miracle like the prophet Jesus in order to prove that God had really spoken to him. This he could not do. He retorted that it was quite unnecessary, as the Qur’an itself was the supreme miracle. If anyone doubted it, let them try to compose ten verses that would bear comparison with it (see surah Hud, 11:13).
• Those who do not believe in God or His desire to communicate in this way still explain the messages as being no more than the product of Muhammad’s mind, and even suggest that he suffered from some sort of illness.
Certainly the messages had to pass through Muhammad’s mind. His mind and body were ‘receiving equipment’, and there is no way of proving whether or not that equipment was ‘faulty’ other than by examining the content of the messages and the life and influence of the prophet.
If, for example, Muhammad had suffered from epilepsy, you would want to compare revelations received in this way over a span of twenty-two years by other epileptics.
Certain individuals have claimed ‘divine guidance’ who have been either quite mad, or deluded by evil influences. When you examine their words and actions, it is immediately obvious that what they did or said was not from God’.
‘Those without knowledge say “Why doesn’t God speak to us, why can’t we have a sign?” But the signs are clear to any people who hold firmly to faith in their hearts.’ (surah Al-Baqarah, 2:118)
‘You are not mad or possessed. Your character is above the standard that can be slandered. Soon everyone will see which of you is really mad . . . . Take no notice of despicable slanderers.’ (surah Al-Qalam, 68: 2…surah Al-An’am, 6: 10).
‘Nothing is said to you that was not said to the messengers before you.’ (surah Fussilat, 41:43).
‘You are to keep the same revealed religion as that revealed to Noah and Ibrahim and Moses and Jesus. God chooses those whom He will.’ (surah Ash-Shuraa, 42:13).
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