Auron ka hai Payaam aur, mera Payaam aur hai,/ Ishq key dardmand ka tarz-e-kalaam aur hai! (Iqbal)
I have often talked about the miraculous deeds of The Unlettered Man – about how his whole existence on earth, in fact, every single moment of his life, was and is a miracle.
Of course that is what the Qur’an calls him: Annabiyyul Ummiy – the Unlettered Prophet.
Guess who else talks about him – “Him That Is Not Learned”?
I wish I had the right reference from the Bible – the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament is it? – to give you on this topic. I think it is Isaiah 29:12. Go check it out and see for yourself. May Allah forgive me if I am wrong.
How much clearer does it get?
Mashallah, Alhamdulillah, here is the actual quote, and yes, it is the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, Chapter 29, Verse 12:
“And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying Read this,
I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned” (Isaiah: 29:12).
I added the Italics in this quote – they are not there in the original.
But then when you are talking about the Bible, you need to be careful about which version you are reading. Not infrequently words (and meaning) can change significantly from version to version – and from edition to edition.
Now go back and read in Surah Al-‘Alaq the word “Iqra’!”
What do you think that word means: “Iqra’”? It means precisely what the Bible says: “Read” (I pray thee!).
And then look up that Hadith in which Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, narrates his encounter with the angel, Hazrat Jibraeel, Alaihis Salaam, to his wife Hazrat Khadijah, Radiyallahu ‘Anha. It goes something like this:
“He said to me, ‘Read!’ To which I replied ‘I am not learned.’”
The actual words of Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, in the Hadith are: “Maa ana bi’qaari’.”
I am quoting from memory. May Allah forgive me if I am wrong.
Literal translation: “I am not a reader.” Stated differently – in the language of the translators of the Bible that is: “I am not learned.”
Allahu Akbar! How much more “proof” do we need or want?
Wake up, people, and smell the miracles of The Unlettered Man – before our nostrils are clogged and the sense of smell is taken away from us. And, frankly, before the worms of the grave claim us for a feast. For, that is what most us are: wormfeast.
That is why I said at one point that we need a minimum amount of intelligence to be able to see these Everyday Miracles of Islam and of The Unlettered Man. And see the miracles galore in the daily lives of even the most ordinary of Muslims even today – such as the Muslims are.
And then we need the minimum amount of integrity, courage and candor to be able to put aside our prejudices and fears and embrace the truth of what Allah makes manifest to our eyes and to our hearts.
THE MIRACLE OF “YOU THE PEOPLE”
Among its countless miracles, the Qur’an contains one miracle that should be visible to even the most naked of eyes: the miracle of “O, People!”
The Qur’an introduces the most miraculous concept of “The People” early (2: 8) and keeps repeating it often – well over 200 times. If the Qur’an had given humanity and the world no miracle other than this one simple concept of “The People,” it would have been enough.
But the Qur’an goes on to address “The People” directly saying “O, You People!” (2:21), in a miracle that found its echo at a distant time, in a distant land, among a people who thought they were distant from Islam and Muslims: the United States of America.
THE MIRACLE OF “WE THE PEOPLE”
The Qur’an miraculously addressed humanity as a whole by calling them directly as “O, You People!” This was in the beginning of the 7th Century.
Then, toward the end of the 18th century – nearly 1200 years later – that call of the Qur’an found an echo in the Constitution of the United States of America, which began with a direct response to that call by saying “We the People…
I will not here trace the tortuous path of that divine message from the sands of Arabia to the shores of America. But suffice it to point out the obvious and the most visible: Allah said in the Qur’an: “O, You, the People!”(2:21). And the American Qawm – the American people – responded, a thousand years later, through an acknowledgment, in the American Constitution, of that great divine call of the Qur’an of “O the People!” (2:21), with the amazing expression of “We the People!”
To most people in the world, including most of the Americans themselves, this was a mystery: where and how America stumbled upon this most breathtaking expression. But for those with a thorough grasp and understanding of history, it was far from being a mystery.
Nor was it a mystery to the believers blessed by Allah by what the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, referred to as the Firaasat of a Mu’min: the ability of believer to see through time and space.
REDUCING ISLAM TO DRUDGERY
Many of us are not able to have fun with Islam because so many of us have reduced Islam to such drudgery – and taken all the fun and all the true excitement out of it.
Muslims are allowed to have fun you know. In fact, that is where they are supposed to find real fun – A-laa bi-dhikrillahi tat-ma-innul quloob. It is just that their way of having fun is at times a bit different from that of some other folks.
If you ask me, there is nothing more fun in this world than Islam – and the Qur’an.
And of course the Hadith – if we ever get anywhere close to it.
MIRACLE OF IHRAM
Here is another Miracle of Islam and Muslims that I want to draw your attention to: the miracle of Ihram?
How powerful is that miracle? And how lightly and easily, and with what great nonchalance and indifference, does everyone, both Muslim and non-Muslim, pass that miracle by!
I am referring to that most amazing 2-piece suite of unsewn white cotton sheets that Islam requires all male pilgrims to wear when they are doing their Hajj or Umrah – their major or minor pilgrimage to Makkah.
Is there a greater marvel of human equality being put on display every year, every month, every day, as Muslim pilgrims go around the Kaabah in their divinely mandated uniform of universal human equality that consists of two simple unsewn sheets of white cotton, within reach of anyone and everyone?
WORTH A PH.D. FROM A FAIRLY DECENT UNIVERSITY
Do you know that most decent universities of the world may give you a doctorate degree for discovering, explicating and documenting just that one single fact about the world and about Islam – and, yes, naturally about the Muslim people and the Islamic way of life?
I mean, for example, this same most amazingly comprehensive and dynamic concept of Salaam that I have been talking about so much in my writings and speeches. And that the Muslims so nonchalantly have managed to squander over the years and decades – mostly following Western and Christian influences – by translating it as “peace,” even though the concept of Salaam does include the notion of “peace” as most people understand it.
MIRACLES OF WUDU, HAJJ, SALAAT AND SUCH
And the same is pretty much the case with most other teachings of Islam and practices of the Muslim people that are truly Islamic.
Like, for example, the concept and practice of Wudu – how Muslims must wash up for their “prayers.”
Or of Salaat – another one of those most dynamic, comprehensive and amazingly multidimensional concepts that Muslims minimize and mischaracterize as “prayer,” even though the concept of Salaah does include Du’a or “prayer” as most people understand and use that expression.
Or of Siyaam – fasting during the month of Ramadan or at other times. Or of Hajj – the major annual pilgrimage to Makkah that every able-bodied Muslim of means is obligated to perform. Or just about anything else that Islam teaches and Muslims practice.