# Proofs of Prophethood - Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy | Yaqeen in NY

**Author:** Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy
**Published:** 2018-07-25
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/XDtktsk1SJ0
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/lecture/proofs-of-prophethood-sh-mohammad-elshinawy-yaqeen-in-ny
**Topics:** Faith, Prophets

## Description
It’s natural to have conviction in God, but for some, having conviction that He sent a particular person to be His messenger is a tall claim. Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy delves into the proofs of the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ – from the ethical and historical necessity of the coming of the final...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** To begin in an authentic hadith, Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As radiallahu anhuma said that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, لَيَأْتِيَنَّ عَلَى النَّاسِ زَمَانٌ يَجْتَمِعُونَ

**[0:17]** وَيُصَلُّونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ وَمَا فِيهِمْ مُؤْمِنٌ A time will certainly come over the people when they get together and they pray in the mosque and there is not a single believer amongst them.

**[0:33]** It's hard to imagine, right? Not at all. If you see how people walked away from Christianity, the moment their religion became a cultural identity,

**[0:49]** you can very easily imagine a Muslim population getting together, say, on Eid Salah with the masjid for them being a social sphere, and then basically saying, No, no, no, I don't really believe this stuff. It's just I'm Muslim, meaning my parents were Muslim.

**[1:06]** And so that's huge. To understand, am I Muslim as part of my culture? Because then it will change with the change of culture. Or am I Muslim because I have unwavering conviction in the Islam that Allah sent to Muhammad Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam?

**[1:21]** Okay? That's the first thing we want to say. The second thing is that believing in Allah, having conviction in God is something natural. Having conviction that Allah sent this particular person is a very tall claim.

**[1:38]** Very difficult. Because think about it. If anyone were to stand up right now and say, God speaks to me, that's going to be very difficult for us to swallow, right? For a number of reasons, even if the verse didn't say Muhammad is the last prophet Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam. And so likewise, it is not natural for you to believe in Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam

**[1:57]** the way it's natural for you to believe in God. Okay? Keep that in mind. And that's why the scholars of Islam, without hesitation, dozens and dozens of books remain having been authored in our history regarding the proofs of prophethood.

**[2:13]** Because there's nothing wrong with asking, and there is a very great need for you not to take it for granted, for it to be reduced to wishful thinking, hearsay. My parents were, my Shaykh claimed. The last thing I want to say here before I get into those actual proofs,

**[2:30]** is that we need to distinguish that just because someone cannot yet prove that Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is the prophet of God, is the prophet of God, does not translate, should never translate into there being no proof that there is a God.

**[2:50]** You understand? Because sometimes people kind of skip a step and they say, see, there's no proof of this, therefore there's no proof of God whatsoever. The only thing more taller, more taller is incorrect English, the only thing that is taller of a claim,

**[3:08]** than Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam being a prophet, or that humans received divine revelation, the only thing more difficult to believe than that, is the fact that this entire universe, with all it contains of impeccable fine-tuning of the human being,

**[3:24]** and the earth, and countless galaxies, and all the order involved, came out of this order without someone putting it into existence. That is the tallest claim. That is the greatest impossibility. So don't conflate those two things.

**[3:40]** It is unimaginable for anyone in their right mind to believe that God created us, and gave us everything we needed, our eyes, our oxygen, and then didn't give us the greatest thing that we needed,

**[3:55]** which is access to Him and guidance in our lives, i.e. prophethood. Those things have to have happened. So the only thing we're discussing right now, is whether or not Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was that prophet. Does that make sense?

**[4:11]** Good. Now let's talk about why we believe he is a prophet Alaihi Salatu Wasalam. I'm going to try to mention seven quick proofs for this evening. There is no real order, and there certainly are many more than seven proofs, but just so you all can keep up with the count,

**[4:28]** we'll itemize them that way. The first proof of his prophethood Alaihi Salatu Wasalam, that he was indeed, without doubt, the final prophet of God, is the suddenness, or the overnightness, if that's a word. It is now if it wasn't a minute ago.

**[4:44]** The overnightness of his mission. You know, even non-Muslim historians have noticed this. Like Thomas Carlyle in his book, Hero and Hero Worship, he says it totally goes against the imposter theory.

**[4:59]** They claim that Muhammad was an imposter Alaihi Salatu Wasalam. The fact that he lived his entire life in this completely unexceptional way. Right? He was just born like everyone else, lived the normal life, worked as a shepherd, then a trader.

**[5:15]** This, and then he says until the heat of his years is gone, until all life could offer him was some peace of mind, some rest and relaxation, that he overnight speak about a message from the heavens.

**[5:31]** That doesn't make sense whatsoever. He says after he worked all these years, his greatest ambition apparently is to have the good honor, integrity, reputation of his neighbors and his family members. And then after he passes the peak of his life,

**[5:48]** after 50 years, Thomas Carlyle is saying, all the irregularities happen, all the miracles happen, all this stuff happens. So that what? So that he can be called a liar and tear down everything he built and then go after a career of ambition that he can't even enjoy?

**[6:04]** He says I can have no faith in such a claim, the imposter theory. It just doesn't add up. Then he goes on actually to explain something really cool. He says if a person were claiming to be a carpenter and they had no background in carpentry,

**[6:19]** any person would be able to expose them, right? Like if someone were to come to your house, say I'm going to build for you a bookshelf, I'm going to build for you an entertainment center or a couch or something. And I'm a carpenter, I'm a woodworker. The moment they start, if this was the first day they ever touched a hammer and a saw and nails and wood,

**[6:36]** you'd be able to tell in a moment, like get out of here, just like you throw them out the door or the window, right? So how does a false prophet, he's saying a false carpenter couldn't build a house, he says. So how can a false prophet build a whole religion? How does he come out of nowhere

**[6:53]** and bring forth to the world an entire message and an entire book that everybody gave up trying to contend with? How does that even make sense? You know, it's very interesting also. Sometimes you wonder why Arabia, why the Arabs, why Mecca?

**[7:11]** Allah knows best where he places his message. Think about it. Was there any other place on the planet that was so isolated like Arabia? Like all the other greats of the world, consider that they were not overnighters.

**[7:28]** Like Aristotle climbed on the shoulders of Plato, didn't he? Constantine climbed on the shoulders of the great generals. They were just the standouts from their civilizations. The Prophet ﷺ had no civilizational ancestry. He had no philosophers that he learned from.

**[7:43]** He had no military experience. He had none of this. And he's isolated from the rest of the world by seamlessly endless desert. And out of nowhere he becomes the great Prophet of God ﷺ. And then he brings forth a book that nobody could ever match by their own testimony.

**[8:05]** There is no disagreement on the Qur'an being matchless. The only debate was between the pagans and the Muslims was did God speak this book or did Muhammad? Even Allah ﷻ calls us to think about the suddenness of it by saying,

**[8:21]** وَمَا كُنْتَ تَتْلُو مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مِنْ كِتَابٍ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُ بِيَمِينِكَ إِذَاً لَرْتَابَ الْمُبُطِلُونَ You never recited any document, any book before this day, O Muhammad. Nor did your right hand ever inscribe anything. Had that been the case?

**[8:37]** Had you had any semblance of education, of literacy whatsoever? Had that been the case, the falsifiers, I mean those that call you false, the falsifiers would have had a reason to doubt. I just love this verse because this verse is saying, if you read and wrote, they would have had a one in a billion chance of reason to think.

**[8:59]** But since you couldn't, they don't even have that much. Like how small would the reason to doubt be even if he was literate? You get what I'm saying? And so how about when he could not read and write, and everyone knew that he could not read and write. So the suddenness of it is a glaring testimony to his prophethood.

**[9:20]** The second is, if you're into the Judeo-Christian studies or biblical studies, the previous scriptures foretelling he was coming. Allah calls our attention to that one too in the Qur'an. It says, أَوَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُمْ آيَةً أَن يَعْلَمَهُ عُلَمَاءُ بَنُوا إِسْرَائِيلٌ

**[9:39]** Is it not enough of a proof for them that he is recognized by the scholars of the Israelites? So if he was a false prophet, any layman could be able to expose him.

**[9:56]** Add to it this point now, that the experts confirmed him. The experts of the previous scriptures confirmed him. And one of the things that really blows your mind is that there still are texts in the Old and New Testament, in the present-day Bible today,

**[10:12]** despite all the distortions and the adulterations and the edits and the changes and the lost in translations, all that stuff, there's still certain verses in the Bible that cannot be speaking about anybody if you want to be honest and objective,

**[10:28]** especially when you pull them collectively, except the Prophet ﷺ. Like, whether you know this or not, in the Book of Genesis, for example, it states that God said to Abraham, I will make from the son of the bondwoman, bondwoman Hagar,

**[10:44]** her son Ismail, I will make out of the son of the bondwoman, Arab Ismail, a great nation because he is still your seed. Even if she's a bondwoman, not a wife, he's still your seed. So I'm going to make of him a great nation.

**[11:00]** And then you continue reading in the same chapter about how he left them in the desert and God made this miraculous well to erupt, which causes a whole civilization, Arabia, to start budding around there. Right? Who is the greater nation that sprung from Ismail ﷺ?

**[11:19]** Is there anyone on the face of the earth that can reasonably claim, like all of the Arabs agreed and traced their lineage back to Ismail ﷺ and nobody on the planet but the Arabs. They're the Ismailites. On top of that, it couldn't just be talking about the Arabs because in Bible terms, a great nation can never be but a nation that worships God,

**[11:38]** not a nation of pagans. So that could have only applied to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. And then why the building of the Kaaba and the springing of Zamzam, all these events for nothing? There was something being led up to here. And then when you move on, for example, to the very contentious verses,

**[11:53]** but the verses in Isaiah, where God reveals that I am going to send forth the one who will be riding with 10,000 strong to bring justice to the nations because he is my servant in the village where Qadar lives.

**[12:13]** You know who Qadar is? In the Bible, it's Ismail ﷺ. So again, out of them will come one who is my servant, who will ride with 10,000, which is the exact number, subhanAllah, even according to historical reports, who the Prophet ﷺ came forth to Mecca ultimately with 10,000

**[12:33]** and bring justice to the nations. Who else could it be? Musa ﷺ died in the wilderness. Isa ﷺ, according to their reports, was crucified. According to our preserved revelation, he was uplifted. But we both agree that he did not bring justice to the nations.

**[12:49]** He was overpowered by his peoples. Who else could we be talking about? You go to the Book of John, it says like when they were interrogating John, the priests and the Levites all go to John, you know, John the Baptist, and they say to him, who are you? This is in John 1. Are you the Messiah?

**[13:06]** And he's not the Messiah, obviously. He's not Isa ﷺ, he never claimed to be. Isa ﷺ was the Messiah. He said, no. They said, are you Elijah? He said, no, I'm not Elijah. Because he's not, he's John. They said to him, are you that Prophet? He said, no, I'm not.

**[13:22]** So who is not John, and not the Messiah, and not Elijah, and who is apparently so famous you don't even need to name him. You say that Prophet and everyone knows who you're talking about. Because our Qur'an told us that Isa ﷺ himself,

**[13:38]** just like the Prophets before him, foretold the coming of Muhammad ﷺ. وَالرَّصُولُ يَأْتِي مِن بَعْدِ يَسْمُهُ أَحْمَدُ Surat As-Saf. Even if you say, how can you quote the Bible when you believe the Bible has been tampered with? It's true.

**[13:54]** On its own, that's the whole reason why the Qur'an was sent, to verify, clarify, and fulfill, complete. But when you pull all of these things together, they all corroborate to be giving a very clear direction that Allah calls us to and says, Banu Israel recognizes him.

**[14:11]** They recognize him like they recognize their own sons. Could you ever mistaken your own child is the implicit message here. The third proof of his Prophethood ﷺ is his character. His character.

**[14:27]** The character of our Prophet ﷺ was not something ordinary. Allah says, عَلَى خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ Right, on a great standard of character. But let us not quote the Qur'an if we are still trying to develop confidence in the Qur'an. The enemies of the Prophet ﷺ,

**[14:44]** his contemporaries, friends and foes. They called him what? What was his name? As-Sadiq Al-Amin, wasn't he? He was known to all as the truthful and trustworthy. To the point, to the point that Aisha says, that when it was time for the hijrah migrating to Medina,

**[15:00]** the Prophet ﷺ had Ali stay behind in his house. You all know the story. Why? She says, because there was not a single person in Mecca who had precious belongings that they were worried about, except that they left them with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Like, can you just imagine that?

**[15:16]** Like, you know, when you have a family member, you're about to like double cross or like upset or like you kind of like protect yourself. But OK, let's just wait till Eid is over. Let's wait till the wedding is over. Look, because you don't know how they're going to react. You don't trust their reaction.

**[15:31]** These people are actively fighting him and they still use him as their safety deposit box. That's how confident they were in him being absolutely uncorruptible. Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam. And you know,

**[15:46]** the greatest testimony of his truthfulness is not in his enemies. It's in those who knew him behind closed doors. Because you know, the saying says that everybody for some of the time and you can trick some people

**[16:04]** all the time. Some people are just gullible and naive like that, right? But you can never trick everybody all the time, right? When the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam comes running back from the cave of Hira, what does Khadijah Radiallahu Anha say?

**[16:22]** Allah will never disgrace you. Don't panic. You are truthful in your speech. You honor your guests. You defend the oppressed. You help those that are vulnerable. She said that Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam Radiallahu Anha. We wish people behind closed doors

**[16:37]** can say that about us, right? And then you take his character and you move on to just look how consistent he was. When he says, I call to Allah, he was calling to Allah. Like when his son Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam Radiallahu Anhu, when he dies at two years old,

**[16:55]** the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam heard that some people are saying, the sun has eclipsed out of sadness for the death of Ibrahim. Those happened on the same day. It coincided. You know, if you're in it for self-promotion,

**[17:11]** this is extremely convenient. Like this is like a strike of fortune. Like, see, I told you, right? The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is bereaving. He's grieving over his lost child. You can imagine his fragile heart.

**[17:27]** His matchless mercy going through what he went through to see an infant like that die Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam. An infant that was his. And then add to it that he didn't even say it. They said it. And yet he still goes out of his way to climb the mimbar, the pulpit

**[17:43]** and say, oh, people, it's in Bukhari and Muslim. Oh, people, the sun and the moon are two of the signs of God by which he strikes fear. Their display of his power strikes fear into the hearts of his slaves. They do not eclipse for the death or life of anyone.

**[18:00]** So when any of you see it, let them get up and pray. He didn't have to say that Alayhi Salaatu Wasalaam. But that was just how consistent he was, Salaatu Rabbi Wasalaamu Alaihi. And then you add to it his bravery. Like what is what is a liar? A liar is a coward. Like you're too scared

**[18:15]** to own up to the truth. So you're going to alternative truth, an alternative fact. You're going to like sell it to the world so that you don't have to own reality. Makes sense? Liars are not brave. Was the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam brave or not?

**[18:32]** Ali Ibn Abi Talib says, I saw us on the day of Badr. No one was closer to the enemy than him. And when the fire got the fiercest, he was the closest to the enemy. And the bravest of us is the one that could get close to him

**[18:48]** to fight on his right and his left. Ali Ibn Abi Talib says that. Al-Bara' Ibn Aazib, another narration. If you know, in the Battle of Hunayn, they were ambushed from the top and everyone fled. It was just a panic and a scramble. They asked Al-Bara' Ibn Aazib, did you flee on the day of Hunayn?

**[19:07]** He gave a very interesting answer. He said, what I can tell you is that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam did not flee. When everybody went in every direction, you know, like the morale, did the Prophet die or not? Can we regroup or not? It needed someone to be the bravest of all.

**[19:23]** He said, when everybody went in every direction, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam lifted the flag in the middle. He called attention to himself during an ambush. He raised the flag and said, Ana nabiyu la kathib, Ana Ibn Abdul Muttalib. I am the Prophet. This is not a lie.

**[19:39]** I am the son, meaning the grandson of Abdul Muttalib. Is that the personality of a liar? It just doesn't add up. And then you go and you look at his character in terms of his lifestyle, how much asceticism or the austerity,

**[19:55]** the minimalism of his lifestyle. Like, you know, when you're trying to investigate من يتعامل بخطيطة؟ ماذا تبحث عنه؟ تقولون ما هو المشكلة؟ ماذا فيه لهم؟ ما كان المشكلة لنبي صلى الله عليه وسلم؟ عندما تنظر إلى حياته

**[20:10]** حتى عندما أصبح رئيس العربية المتحررة في نهاية حياته كان يعيش في منزله الواضح وينام على مطبخ المرحل الذي ترك مركزه في جانبه ويأكل ما أكله لم يتغير شيئاً

**[20:27]** لذلك إذا كان فيه للقوة إذا كان فيه للحظة فهو يمكن أن يحصل على أي شيء يريده صحيح؟ لكن هذه المهمة ليست مهمته كانت مهمة تركها الله عليه السلام وإذا تعتبرون أيضاً أفضلية شخصية شخصيته

**[20:42]** مثل أي شخص آخر الذي عمل ما عمله كان يتفجر منذ زمن طويل إلا شخص لا يؤمن فقط بأن الله أرسله لكنه كان متأكد أن الله أرسله هل تعرفون المحادثة المعروفة في الهجرة؟ في تهجير النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم

**[20:58]** عندما هم في الهجرة وهم يفعلون كل ما يمكن ومرسلون لا يزالون يتجاوزونهم وهم في باب الهجرة تخيلوا أنه في هذا الموضوع فقط تخسر الأمل فقط هذا هو إنه مجرد هذا لأن أبو بكر الصديق قال

**[21:13]** يا رسول الله كل ما يحتاجون إلى فعله هو أن ينظروا إلى أسفل أسفلهم لأن الهجرة مباركة فكل ما يحتاجون إلى فعله هو أن ينظروا إلى أسفلهم ويجدوننا قال أبو بكر ماذا تفكرين؟ فالله هو ثالثهم، تلك هي التصوير التي تعرفونها

**[21:28]** عامين بعد عامين بعد الله تحدث عن هذا في القرآن عندما كان يقول للمسلمين المتبقين أنه مع أو بدونك سأدعمه لذا فعل نفسك بحفظ وانصر نفسك من أصدقائه قال إِنَّ تَنصُرُهُ فَقَدْ نَصَرَهُ اللَّهُ

**[21:44]** ذَأْخْرَجَهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا هذا لا يزال أن تدعمه الله لقد كتب لهم فائدة وقال لهم يوم الهجرة مثلما كانت المسلمين المتبقين قد أزعجوه أو أزعجوه من منزله عندما كانوا أثناء في المخيم

**[22:00]** وقال له لأصدقائه لا تتبعوا الله معنا أتعلم أنه يمكن أن يحاول أحدهم أن يكون رجل سعيد ويقول كيف نعرف أن محمد لم يصنع هذا الورق بعد؟ كما تعلم أننا نفعل هذا، صحيح؟ كما أنك تقول آه، يجب أن ترىني، أخي سنوات سابقة كنت في محطة

**[22:15]** وكان هناك 20 منهم وقالوا، كيف نعرف أن محمد لم يصنع هذا الورق بعد؟ كيف نعرف أن محمد لم يصنع هذا الورق بعد؟ كيف نعرف أن محمد لم يصنع هذا الورق بعد؟

**[22:32]** أبو بكر كان معه صحيح؟ إذا كان هذا الورق مصنع بعد الوضع هل سيبقى أبو بكر صديق رضي الله عنه هو أفضل محبته؟ هل سيبقى أبو بكر صديق رضي الله عنه هل سيبقى أبو بكر صديق رضي الله عنه هل سيبقى أبو بكر صديق رضي الله عنه هل سيبقى أبو بكر صديق رضي الله عنه

**[22:48]** بعد موت النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم؟ وذلك يشير إلى أنه يشير إلى أنه يكون حقاً ويكون نبياً لله عليه الصلاة والسلام والأربعة، ويثبت بسرعة

**[23:04]** هو رسالته ويصعب أن أشرح رسالته وكيف يثبت رسالته وكيف يثبت لك أني أحجزت ذات بات لك أن أحجزت ذات بات حينما متوقفي حئلة كلام سوء خاصة خاصة حبل

**[23:19]** court عبد العبد عليه السلام الحكي الحكي حل حكي الحكي حل حل الحكي حل حل

**[23:37]** And then the more you talk about this, they say the devil lies in the details, right? The more you talk, the bigger chance you have of making a mistake, being inconsistent, right? And needing to change what you said before to match with what you said after, right?

**[23:53]** So, so comprehensive and then it all synchronizes, it all fits perfectly into this. Whether we're talking about the belief in God, the belief in destiny, prayer, fasting, the rules for Islamic finance, its emphasis on history, its decisions on science,

**[24:10]** nobody can do that. That is the greatest proof according to so many scholars of his prophethood. How many people when they got into specifics to address their realities, very soon after them, their talks, their words, their insights became irrelevant.

**[24:26]** They became obsolete because the world just changed. And even what he didn't speak about was part of the genius of his message. Like the stuff that needed to be addressed specifically, like how often you need to meet God and have an appointment with him five times a day in these prescribed times.

**[24:42]** He did that. Then the things that Allah knew would change with time and place, they were more flexible. Understood? Like the rules on Islamic finance, certain Islamic ethics and otherwise. Add to all of this that the Prophet ﷺ did not, did not have any ability to edit his message after he spoke it.

**[25:08]** Like some people wonder why is it the Qur'an came down in 23 years, this message of the Qur'an. Of the reasons why it came down like this is to prove his prophethood. Like can you imagine, like someone comes to you, you claim to be a prophet of God. Okay, I'm going to believe in you. You teach them a surah of the Qur'an.

**[25:24]** They go home and they never come back to their country. Once the Qur'an, it's gone. And so for the beginning of your message and the quality of the beginning to be like the end of your message and the quality of the end in full maturity, if we're talking in human terms, it would never happen.

**[25:41]** Like if you wrote me something in high school and then you wrote me another something on the subject and doing your second PhD, would they look the same or it'd be so easy to tell that, oh man, work in progress, great improvement here.

**[25:57]** And so the Prophet ﷺ, of the miracles of his message, the consistency, despite the span, despite the details, despite all of this. And there's so much to talk about. You can go back to the yaqeen papers for it. But just remember that Allah Azza wa Jal says, don't they ponder over the Qur'an, then this message of the Qur'an,

**[26:16]** if it were from other than Allah, you would have found many inconsistencies in it. Number five. Are the accomplishments of the Prophet ﷺ. Before I get into the accomplishments, keep something in mind.

**[26:34]** There is no single accomplishment that immortalized the legacy of our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The truly miraculous thing, and I use that word without reservation, is that all of these accomplishments converged in one person,

**[26:51]** ﷺ. And a person that cannot appreciate his accomplishments, whoever thinks they're just ordinary, you either don't know who he was, ﷺ, or you don't know who everybody else was.

**[27:06]** So you're not able to compare. Maybe there were other people that are similarly great. But the people who specialized in comparing human beings, the leading historians, even the non-Muslims among them, because they were historians and they lived their lives in this endeavor,

**[27:24]** they all by cultural biases or being left in the dark or inauthentic sources, so many of them testify there's something truly unique about the accomplishments of this man.

**[27:40]** Like you know the Michael Hart book that Muslims love to brag about, the hundred greatest, and forget that he put the Prophet ﷺ as number one for a second. Why did he put him number one? He says in the beginning, in his intro, I know people are going to get upset at me for putting Muhammad as number one,

**[27:55]** because you know the subject is politicized. He's a very contemporary American historian. He says, but I could not put anybody else. He's trying to have some academic integrity. He's trying to be true to his research. He's saying because he was the only one, the only one that was ever successful on the secular and religious levels at the same time.

**[28:19]** The French historian Alfonso de Lamartine, he has a beautiful statement. He says, how do you measure greatness? If you want to measure greatness by the size of the accomplishment and the tininess of the resources that you have to get that accomplishment,

**[28:35]** how can anyone ever claim that somebody was ever once greater than Muhammad ﷺ? And Justin William Draper, he says, in 569 there was born a man of all men

**[28:51]** who exercised the greatest influence upon the human race. Then he explains what he means. And he says, to be the religious head of many empires and to guide the daily life of one third of the human race may perhaps justify the title messenger of God. And similarly, Bosworth Smith, he says,

**[29:14]** and I want you to reflect on it. These are people who spent their lives studying human beings, what they've done, what they've left behind, how long it's lasted. He says, by a fortune absolutely unique in human history, saying there really has been nobody else like this.

**[29:29]** By a fortune absolutely unique in history, Muhammad is a threefold founder of a nation, an empire, and their religion. He said he was head of the state and head of the church at the exact same time. That's never happened. He's saying, and head of the church. So he was Caesar and he was Pope in one.

**[29:49]** He was Caesar without the legions of Caesar. And he was the Pope without the pretensions of the Pope. He didn't have to do a thousand and one rituals to get to get a seat with them. He says, without a standing army, without a bodyguard, without a police force, without a fixed revenue,

**[30:06]** if ever a man ruled by a right divine, meaning from God, it was Muhammad, alayhi salatu wa salam. For he had all the powers without their supports, and he cared not for the dressings of power. The simplicity of his private life was in perfect keeping with his public life.

**[30:24]** That's of his accomplishments, alayhi salatu wa salam. Absolutely unique. You know, once I remember one time, Ahmed Didat, rahimahullah, and if you don't know who that is, we can't be friends, I'm sorry. They said to him about the accomplishments of the church and whatnot.

**[30:41]** They were saying to him, what has your religion ever offered the world? Which is just insane, right? Just insane. Like Robert Ruffo in his book, The Making of Humanity, says, Europe does not owe the Arabs.

**[30:56]** He means the Muslims because it was an Arab civilization because it was founded and anchored in the Quran. Does not owe them some scientific accomplishments. They owe them their existence. Like Professor, I think Dale Rosenthal, Rosenthal is his last name, from Yale University, he's still alive. He says, were it not for Muslim civilization, he goes on to explain, but I can't because time is tight.

**[31:15]** The study of human history would have been lost and restored after the Islamic religion advented, began. So anyway, so they were saying to Ahmed Didat, what have you ever offered humanity? The church has produced two billion people, pay attention, two billion people who love Jesus Christ, peace be upon him.

**[31:39]** So Ahmed Didat, and you all know his wit, he said, well, Muhammad, Islam has produced 1.5 billion people that do not profess the love of Jesus, but practice the love of Muhammad, peace be upon him.

**[31:59]** Think about that, like a millennium and a half later, we're debating on how to move our fingers in fiqh. What does that mean? That's a celebration of Muhammad, peace be upon him. We're all trying to figure out what's the most aligned way to move our fingertip the way he moved it.

**[32:14]** That's all we're really searching for, right? Like we heard in the earlier lecture. That's all it's about. Until today, a religion that people say was created in the desert and should have died in the desert, you have Muslims in every place in the globe willing to accept being awkward.

**[32:31]** Well, the beard is trending now, so I can't use that example, but keep it after it stops being. You're willing to be a little bit socially awkward just so you can be what? More following of the guidance of Muhammad, peace be upon him, because you see it worth it.

**[32:46]** You're talking about a man who came to the world, peace be upon him, in a single generation, removed racism from a society that was knee deep in prejudice, knee deep in superiority complexes. And you all know that until today, racism is alive and healthy, isn't it?

**[33:03]** The only man to ever successfully remove it from society, the only man who was ever able to remove alcoholism from society, the only man who was ever able to do what he did in a single generation, he abolished a practice like female infanticide.

**[33:18]** For the past 100 years, guys, India, with all the surveillance and all the policing and all the modern technology, are still failing at putting to death that Hindu custom of female infanticide. He did it in one generation, peace be upon him, revolutionized human rights before the Geneva Conventions,

**[33:37]** before the treaties, before anything. He revolutionized human rights. He revolutionized animal rights. He revolutionized environmental rights. All of that in his one life, peace be upon him. And then before I finish accomplishments, because I only have like 10 minutes left.

**[33:55]** And a half. He left on this earth an unending continuum of people of excellence. But let's just talk about the Sahaba. He produced a model generation, the likes of which the world had never seen.

**[34:16]** Like people who Allah said about them. I don't want to get into it. I have some sentiments as to why he was sent amongst the Arabs. Because they were the hardest people to deal with on the planet. I can say that I'm Arab, fine. Self-hating Arab, fine. I'll accept the meme. Please don't.

**[34:36]** But Allah said, He said, if you would have spent everything on the face of the earth, ما ألفت بين قلوبهم You would never have been able to mend between their hearts. And Allah mended between their hearts. You take it from there to كنتم خير أمة أخرجت للناس

**[34:53]** You were the best nation ever brought out to humanity. You know what that accomplishment is? That is not even to be compared with the greats of the world. That is an accomplishment to be compared with the prophets of God themselves. Not just any ordinary greats.

**[35:08]** Which prophet converted all of his people? Which one? Allah saved that one from Muhammad عليه الصلاة والسلام Who changed the hearts and minds? His enemies became his confidants and his followers.

**[35:25]** And if they refused, their children became Muslim and followers of the man who their parents perhaps died on the battlefield at his hands عليه الصلاة والسلام Can you imagine?

**[35:40]** He changed the entire face of the globe. And then he produced this model generation that even when the Muslims forgot what brought them success The sheer momentum of the Sahaba, that generation lived for a thousand years. Till it finally caught up with us in the past 3-400.

**[35:55]** His accomplishments. Then there are his miracles. And I know many people, the only thing I want to say about miracles is that there is no time really to talk about them. Is that some people shy away from saying the miracles. Because you want to sound a little bit more like intellectual and like savvy and you know in the college space or beyond.

**[36:14]** Right? But you need to realize that an entire generation of people all agree and testify collectively in unison that these miracles were formed and we saw them. And realize also that Allah did not just send Islam for the academicians.

**[36:33]** Right? Islam came for the simplest of simpletons to the most intellectual of scientists. And so even if you find it more compelling, the intellectual argument, know that there are some people who will not be able to see beyond.

**[36:52]** They are dependent on the tangible physical miracle. And that's why it's of his proofs that we should not shy away from. عليه الصلاة والسلام The seventh and final one. We said the suddenness and we said the previous scriptures and we said his message and we said his accomplishments and we said the miracles.

**[37:09]** The seventh and final one we can discuss right now are his prophecies. The things he foretold were so many and were in such detail that he could not have been a psychic. Psychics they guess in vague terms.

**[37:25]** Then after something happens, say that's what I meant by that fortune cookie thing I told you. Right? Or they try to give you details and they shoot themselves in the foot. They get exposed by the law of probability as they say. Right? The Prophet عليه الصلاة والسلام made countless.

**[37:43]** I don't even know if the word predictions is right. This predictions means he was guessing maybe, but I'll use it loosely predictions foretellings of what would happen. Istanbul will be liberated. Egypt and you will find it. Walk out and then you will you will Persia and Rome and Syria.

**[38:02]** Every single one of those he foretold عليه الصلاة والسلام on the big level. Then you go on the micro level. The Sahaba were a generation. Allah is just it's mind boggling. Imagine a generation of people who walk this earth knowing so many of them knowing exactly how they would exit this earth.

**[38:22]** Like Umm Haram radiyallahu anha says the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was sleeping over my house one day and I woke up. He said, you know, a group of my Ummah will ride the seas and he praised them a great deal. She said, Ya Rasulullah make dua that I'm among them. That I will be forgiven among them because that's the praise he gave them.

**[38:38]** He said, you will be among them. And she went out for the conquest of Cyprus and on her way back. She fell off of her horse and she broke her neck and she met Allah shaheedah. She met Allah a martyr for it. She knew that was going to happen.

**[38:54]** The Sahaba knew that when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم says this person is forgiven. They knew that he would die shaheed. They would say this among themselves. Right? When you look at Ammar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu before the battle of Suffin after so many years from being with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

**[39:10]** So many years after his death at that later battle during the end of the lives of the younger companions. Ammar is sitting there and they hand him a glass of milk and so he begins to laugh. And they say, why are you laughing?

**[39:26]** He said, because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said to me that my last rizq, the last thing I'm going to be provided for in this world would be a glass of milk. And so he got up and he walked forward and he fell radiyallahu ta'ala anhu arda.

**[39:43]** Ali ibn Abi Talib when he got very sick in Yanbu, Abu Fadhala radiyallahu ta'ala anhu said to him, let us carry you back to Medina so that when you die like the Sahaba there, Janazah among the Sahaba, city of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He said, I will not die here.

**[39:58]** He said, how can you claim to know the future? Allah knows. He said, I don't claim to know the future. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said to me, I will die by a strike here in this that will soak this. And that is how he died, right? At the end of his life, he was walking around before Fajr saying, Allahumma ba'ath ashqaaha.

**[40:17]** When he felt betrayed by the people of Kuwait, he said, Oh Allah, send out this most miserable person who will assassinate your cousin, basically. Right? And a day came when he was assassinated, radiyallahu ta'ala anhu arda. There is a hadith in, so many hadith but time will not allow.

**[40:35]** Umar knew that he would be, Uthman knew that he would be. When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said on one of many occasions, Oh, Uhud, stop shaking for upon you is a prophet and a Siddiq, Abu Bakr and two shaheeds. Right? They knew. But there's a hadith in Bukhari and Muslim. I'll leave you with these two hadith before I close.

**[40:52]** Who are Aisha radiyallahu anhu, they're both narrated by Aisha. She says, that as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم lay dying, his daughter walked in and he said, Marhaban ibnati, welcome my dear daughter.

**[41:09]** And he motioned to her to come over. And so she walked towards him. Latukhti mishyataha mishyatah Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, not different than the messenger of God. Aisha said, she walks just like her dad. Radiyallahu anhu. And then he brought her close and he whispered in her ear.

**[41:28]** And so she laughed. She cried and then he whispered in her ear a second time. And so she laughed. Aisha says, I've never seen someone cry and laugh so closely together before. So I said, what did he tell you? She said, I would never disclose the secret of the messenger of God صلى الله عليه وسلم.

**[41:48]** She says that when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died in that sickness, I asked her again, and she felt it was OK at that point to disclose it. She said the first time he spoke to me, he said to me, Oh Fatima, laak harba ala abiki ba'da alyaum, that your father will never hurt after this day. I'm dying here.

**[42:09]** She said, so I cried. And so he said to me, Oh Fatima, does it not please you that you will be the first of my household to catch up with me and that you will be the queen of the women of paradise? She says, so I laughed. And now, Allah says, this is not a miracle.

**[42:29]** This is two miracles because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم became sick several times and never once did he say, I'm dying on this one, except the one that he actually passed on. He said the second is that of all the people in his household, he'll mention Fatima, the young Fatima, to die before any of them.

**[42:52]** And she died at 22 years old, 20 or 22 years old, just six months after that event. In the second hadith, Aisha رضي الله عنها says, we asked the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, which one of us, your wives, will catch up with you first?

**[43:07]** فقال أطول كن يدا, he said the one that has the longest arm. She says, so when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم died, we used to stretch our arms on the wall to see. They're just looking forward to the reunion, you can imagine. To see which of us had the longest arm.

**[43:23]** And it was Sawada, Sawada bint Zam'a رضي الله تعالى عنها. Aisha says رضي الله عنها, when Zainab died first, we realized he meant the one who gives the most charity. وزينب كانت تعمل بيدها وتصدق.

**[43:41]** Because Zainab was a craftsman, she used to do things with her hands and give in charity the earnings. So where's the best place, I have to give you an action item now, where's the best place to learn about the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم's life?

**[43:56]** Because one lecture will not cut it. Because the onslaught that is drilled at our ears, at our eyes, at our hearts, to cause this conviction to erode, will continue coming. And so the antidote has to continuously being administered, not just in a Yaqeen in New York event.

**[44:16]** What's the greatest book on the Prophet's biography? Raise your hands. Sealed Nectar, huh? The Quran. People, for multi-faith purposes, they say Moses is the most mentioned messenger in the Quran.

**[44:37]** And Jesus and Mary are mentioned in the Quran more than Muhammad by name. But the entirety of the Quran was revealed incidents in the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم's life. And so you are to live with him those 23 years as you read this Quran in Ramadan,

**[44:59]** to realize how special he was being inspired by this revelation. But at the same time, how much sacrifice he had to go through and difficulty in living up to this revelation. You know, the Quran goes to great lengths to reiterate the concept of him being a human being just like you.

**[45:17]** Because if he was an angel صلى الله عليه وسلم, yes, he'd be admirable. You'd admire him, but you wouldn't be able to identify with him. But seeing his humanness and his Prophethood through his humanness, this is what brings it full circle and causes to crystallize for you.

**[45:34]** This must have been a Prophet of God. This is a person I need to adore and fall in love with over and over again. Forgive me for the elongation. I think I went a minute and a half over. سبحانك اللهم وبحمدك شهدوا لا اله الا انت استغفرك واتوب اليك JazakAllah khairan.