Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu. May the peace & blessings of Almighty God be upon all of you. Welcome back to the proof that Islam is the Truth. And in our previous episode we were discussing the prophesies of Prophet Muhammad may Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him in the Bible. Now today we are going to be dealing with another fascinating subject. And that is the subject of prophesies. Now we mentioned in our previous episodes how the Bible in both Deuteronomy 18:18 & also in Isaac & also in the Gospel of John, in those passages we quoted that the Comforter, the Paraclete, Ahmed, the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam, that Prophet – “he will foretell them of things to come.” And this is a quality of a Prophet. Because Allah alone indeed is “Ali Muraibi”, He is the One who has knowledge of the unseen. It is only Allah who truly knows the future. And this is something that is mentioned in the Bible as an actual criterion who is a true Prophet & who is a false Prophet, how can you know someone who is really prophesying & who is really a Prophet from God & one who is not.

One of the criterions that you can apply is “does the things that he foretells, do they take place, do they actually happen?” Ok, so the Bible says: “And if you shall say in your heart, how shall we know the word which the Lord has spoken… …if the thing follows not, nor come to pass, then that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it presumptuously: & thou shalt not be afraid of him”. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22) So we can know a false prophet from a true prophet depending “does that prophesy come true”. So there are true prophets & there are false prophets, there are people who claim prophethood, but one of the criterion that we can use in order to know that the claim is false is that indeed the things they say don’t happen.

Now there are people who do claim to be able to foretell the future. People who read the stars for example & they claim our fate is written in the stars. Muslims do not believe this. We do not believe our fate is written in the stars, nor do we believe that a, you know, a gathering of stars in any particular shape or form has any impact upon your fate whatsoever. There is no scientific evidence for that whether there is some other thing? Well, we don’t believe it as Muslims anyway. Your fate is determined by Allah. That is the One who has determined our fate. And it is only Allah who knows the future, no soothsayer & no prophesier except someone who is receiving revelation from Allah can tell us accurately about the future.

In fact the Prophet Muhammad may Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him said: “Whoever believes a soothsayer or a fortune-teller, has disbelieved in what Allah has revealed to Prophet Muhammad. Whoever visits a fortune-teller even out of curiosity, then their prayers will not be accepted for forty days.” This is because fortune-tellers are claiming, they are pretending to have a type of knowledge that only belongs to prophets themselves & this is a great falsehood. However I do not say, & Islam does not say that these soothsayer & fortune-tellers are not able to sometimes get some things right. They may guess some things & they may predict some things that may turn our right, & they could do that just from guesswork. And that’s why you often find that when these soothsayers & fortune-tellers they are predicting the future, they do manage to get things right that happen very close & that in the very near future, but the further & further they get away from their time then more & more inaccurate their prophesies start becoming.

And this is certainly the case with a modern day soothsayer Edgar Cayce who has amazingly predicted it seems the second world war but as his prophesies move further & further in today what is present time his prophesies have seem to become less & less accurate. Another thing is that the Quran does tell us & the Prophet Muhammad does tell us that the sheitan the jinns they are able to travel through the Heavens. And they are able to sneak & listen to the angels. And the angels are carrying the commands of Allah & they are obviously carrying the decree that is going to happen & they are implementing that decree. So they may be discussing those things that Allah has decreed for the servants on Earth in that upcoming year or some time in the future. And therefore they are able to listen to some of that & they bring that down to the soothsayer & the magician. Now they cooperate with the soothsayer & the magician because the soothsayer does many things that are displeasing to Allah, & because of that they fall into the disbelieving with Allah. But the soothsayer mixes up these truths with a hundred different lies. But you know what the people are like – they just tend to remember the things that are true. But if you actually recorded all these things & examined them, then you would really see that yes, they got some things right but they actually really got a whole load of things wrong as well. Then that is not really of course a sign of anything.

But a Prophet, someone who is receiving revelation from God, everything must be right. Every prophesy must come true. Now we have recorded from the earliest history of Islam prophesies in the Quran & prophesies of the Prophet Muhammad may Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him. And we are going to compare those things to the cryptic writings for example of Nostradamus. Nostradamus is famous for his prophesies but his writings are all very cryptic. The rhymes could mean this or that or anything. In fact the soothsayers were no different in the time of the Prophet Muhammad. They used to have a sort of confusing rhyme that could mean this & could mean that. Lets actually see some of the prophesies in the Quran & some of the prophesies of the Prophet Muhammad may Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him. Now one of the things that the Quran prophesised is the victory of Islam.

And we have to remember that when these verses were coming down the Muslims were a very small group, they were at every moment under the impression that they were going to be wiped out either by the pagan Arabs or that by the Romans, yet the Quran is promising victory in different verses. Let’s examine one of those verses. In the 24th sura in the 55th ayat the Quran tells us: “Allah has promised to those of you who believe, and do good deeds, that He will surely grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the earth, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them in the land inheritance of power, as He granted it to those before them, that He will establish in authority their religion which He has chosen for them. And He will change their state of fear to one of security & peace & they will worship Me & not associate anything with Me.” And also the Quran says: “Say to those who deny faith: soon you will be vanquished.”

And that is in the 3rd chapter of the Quran in the 21st ayat. And again in the 110th chapter of the Quran in ayat 1 to 2: “When comes the help of God and Victory, and you see the people enter Allah’s religion in multitudes.” The first verse was revealed at the time of the Muslim’s weakness & it promised them victory of the disbelieving people & it also said that people will enter Islam into crowds & this is exactly what happened after the capture of Mecca & during the times of Caliphs & Abu Bakr & Omar & Othman & Ali – people entered Islam into crowds & Islam was established in the land, & the Muslims defeated the Romans & they defeated the Persians & Islam was established from Spain to China in the matter of just 20-40 years.

And this also fulfils in part another prophesy in the Quran: “It is He who has sent the Messenger with guidance & the religion of truth to make it triumphant over all religions.” This is in the 9th chapter of the Quran in the 33rd ayat. Allah is promising that Islam will be triumphant over all religions. Islam will be the largest religion in the world. And without doubt this is what is happening today. Although this is perhaps 50/50 at the moment between Christianity & Islam, it is predicted by people who study this matter due to conversions & demographics that by the year 2050 30% of all human beings on this planet will be Muslim & it will make Islam the largest religion on the face of the Earth. Actually what we find is that Judaism, Christianity & paganism have never really established a lasting dominance physically & intellectually since the coming of Islam. Even in terms of Christianity, you may say that Christian world is dominant economically & militarily but in reality it is not really Christian, it is a type of secularist materialist philosophy that is dominant.

As mention earlier today  we are talking about the prophesies of the Prophet Muhammad may Allah’s peace & blessings be upon him. We talked about how Islam is going to be the dominant religion, indeed it is becoming that, it is that. And we mentioned about how Islam until today is growing & that how the Quran was promising the Muslim’s victory even though they were so small & they were so weak. Also there is another prophesy in the Quran, in the 30th chapter of the Quran in the verses 1 to 7. A very interesting prophesy: “The Roman Empire has been defeated- In a land close by;” This is what the Quran is saying. “but they even after this defeat will gain victory- In a few years. Allah’s is the Command, in the past and in the Future: on that Day shall the Believers rejoice- With the help of Allah. He helps whom He wills; Allah is the Mighty and the most merciful. It is the promise of Allah. Allah never breaks His promise: but most men do not understand.

They crave for the outer things of this life: but of the Hereafter they are heedless.” Now the Eastern Roman Empire the Byzantine Empire had for many years been fighting the Persian Empire & they suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the Persians who captured Jerusalem in the year 614 of the Christian Era. And after that Egypt fell & then Syria fell, & Constantinople itself was laid sieged too. This means “a land close by”. Now the pagan Arabs actually delighted in this as it seemed to signal to them that the success of idolatry & its followers over the people who followed the revelation of Ahle Kitab, the Christians in this case. And when this verse was revealed it seemed impossible that the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire would ever recover, it seemed it was the end. The Persians had reached dominance, the Byzantines, it seemed were finished.

Now the word in the Quran translated “a few” is “bidaa” which actually means anything from 3 to 9 years, that term means anything from 3 to 9 years. And Obay we mentioned him in a previous talk, Obay who was a pagan Arab, he actually betted Abu Bakr, who was a close companion & a friend of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam, he betted Abu Bakr & this would never happen, “this will never happen, you said, I’ll take a bet” And this was before gambling was forbidden, of course gambling is not allowed. And that was forbidden later. And so they actually took a bet of 100 camels, that’s about 150000 pounds in modern day money, that’s quite a lot of money, 100 camels is a lot. And they waged that this will never happen. Now it actually did happen.

By the year 623 Heraclius the Byzantine Empire took to the field & vanquished the Persian in a series of battles culminating in the battle of Nivev. And this was in 626. By this time in fact Obay had been killed so his relatives actually had to pay the debt to Abu Bakr. An at this time when the Romans won the Muslims had been victorious over the Quraish & were rejoicing just as the Quran had prophesized. The prophesy came true exactly & it is a great reminder that Allah knows & you don’t know, a little do men understand. And it is the same Quran that is warning us about the dangers of disbelieving in Allah & His Messengers & not following His revelations. It is the same Quran that warns us of the Hellfire & invites us to the Paradise. And warns us of the distress & the misery that people on the Day of Judgement for not following the Truth.

Anyway we’ve got some more prophesies for you coming up. So let’s mention, these are some prophesies from the Hadeeth or the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam & there is a long narration that is found in the two authoritative books of Hadeeth. This means Bukhari & Muslim, we’ve mentioned Sahih Al Bukhari before, Sahih Al Muslim we also mentioned it previously in fact. These are considered to be the most two authentic sources of information, textual information, in the religion of Islam after the Quran. Now according to this long Hadeeth the Prophet Muhammad was sitting in a garden. And Othman Ibn Affan walked in & the Prophet asked Abu Musa Ashari who was with him to inform him of good news of paradise, so to tell Othman of the good news of paradise. And also that people would mutiny against him. And this exactly is what happened. It is well-known from Islamic history that people did mutiny against Othman Ibn Affan in fact they even killed him. Prophesy came true exactly as the Prophet had said.

In another narration while the Muslims were fighting the Jews in Hibr after some days of attempting to besiege the fortress the Prophet said the next day he would entrust the flag to a man whom Allah would give victory. And he gave the flag to Ali & the same day the fortress was conquered by the Muslim under Ali’s command as the Prophet Muhammad had prophesied.

In another Hadeeth the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam said: the califat will last for 40 years then there will be a biting kinship. So the caliphate will last for 30 years. The caliphate are the righteous successors of the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam & then there will be a biting kinship. So the Prophet said 30 years & it happened exactly like this. The rule of the rightly guided Caliphate meaning Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman & Ali was exactly 30 years, ok? So we had Abu Bakr for 2, Omar for 10, Othman for 12, Ali for 2 & a half & Hassan who succeeded Ali ibm Talib was 3 & a half years. So that makes as the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam said exactly 30 years.

After that evil spread & kinship was established just as the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam said would happen. In another Hadeeth the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam he predicted the capture of Egypt. Remember this is the time when the Muslims they just a small group of people, yet he is telling them: you are going to capture Egypt. And he even said & told them treat the people well & he mentioned also that they would seize the treasures of the Persian Emperor. Can you imagine this? He is telling them: you will defeat the Persians, you will seize the treasures of the Persian Emperor & he describe the palace & all of these things happened as the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam said. He even mentioned concerning one particular companion, sura Al Malik tat you will wear the bracelets of the Persian Emperor. And in fact this is exactly what happened, the bracelets fell into the possession of Omar ibn Hattab. he called Suraka who was still alive because he could have been killed in all of these wars, but he was alive & Omar put the bracelets on him & reminded him of what the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam had said.

Also in Sahih Al Bukhari Auf ibn Malik he reported that the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam said: “Look for six incidents before the last day. First my death. Then”, – & this is of course true, the Prophet died. -”Then the conquest of Jerusalem.” And the Muslims conquered Jerusalem. “Third an epidemic among them. Forth the abundance of wealth, so a man would not gladly accept 100 dinars if given it. Fifth a trouble that would involve all Arab families without exception. Sixth the treaty with the Christians, which the Christians would violate.” So the Hadeeth describes exactly what happened. Jerusalem was captured & after this in 16 years after the Hijra of the Prophet an epidemic broke out, it’s well-known about, & 70000 people died. Wealth became plentiful after that, especially during the Caliphate of Othman & after that in a time of Omar ibn Abdul Aziz. It is so famous when the collectors of Zakat they found no one who was poor enough to receive the Zakat. There was no one poor enough to receive Zakat money, that’s how wealthy the Muslims had become & that’s the prosperity Islam brought to the world at the time. And this is exactly what happened.

Also after the rebellious war against Othman things became worse, after his murder & it is true that none of the Arab families was saved from the fitna of that, from the trials & the tribulations. And that after the murder of Othman there was not one family that except that was involved in it, just as the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam had said.

In another narration the Prophet said that the Muslims would conquer Rome & Constantinople & the Prophet was asked which was first, & he said the city of Heraclius which of course means Constantinople. And that is absolutely true, of course Rome has never been taken by the Muslims & then I suppose this is something will have to say that every Muslim will believe this is still something that is due to happen some time in the future. Ok, but Constantinople certainly was conquered by the Muslims, ok? And what is noteworthy here is that these predictions were made at a time again when the Prophet, no one could imagine that the Muslims were going to do such things.

Ok, the Prophet also & said many, I’m just saying very quickly some prophesies here, the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam also predicted that the Muslims would divide into many different sects & different groups & in some Hadeeth he described the characteristics of these sects & these groups that would arise. He mentioned that some of them would do to Ali what the Christians did to Jesus, in other words they would claim that Ali is God. How can a Muslim ever claim that a human being is God. This is the greatest type of disbelief you can imagine to claim that a human being is equal with Allah. The Prophet said some Muslims will do this with Ali & they did. First of all a sect arose exaggerating & in their love for Ali ibn Talib. And then this same sect, sub sects of them went on to even claim that Ali is Allah, is equal with God. And this group by the way still exists until today.

Also he mentioned that some people would deny that Kadr or the divine decree of Allah & he called them the Majoos of this ummah, the magiens of this ummah. And this has happened exactly they were called the Kadrea, a group of people who denied the divine decree which is an essential part of Islamic belief.

And he also mentioned that a tribe, a group would arrive from a certain tribe & the Prophet pointed out this individual & they would say that the people who are believers are unbelievers. They would apply the verses of the Quran talking about unbelievers to the believers. And the Prophet mentioned very bad things about them. And said, in fact he called them the dogs of the Hellfire because they are saying that the true believers are in fact disbelievers & the Prophet mentioned & pointed out this man. And it happened that a group arose called the Hawaridge. These Howaridge, actually most of them were exactly from the tribe this man the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam pointed out. And the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam mentioned that they should be fought against. And this is exactly what Ali ibn Talib did, he fought against this group, the Howaridge.

So these are some of the Hadeeths of the prophesies of the Prophet Sallalahu Alleyhem Va Salam & we have a lot more in fact to come. We are going to be mentioning some of the signs of the Day of Judgement, things that the Prophet Muhammad said would happen before the last days. And that will be our last in the episode of the proof that Islam is the Truth. So make sure you tune in & listen into that for our last & final Article of the proof that Islam is the Truth. Until then Assalamaleykum Arahmatullahi va Barakatu.