Your Questions Answered (volume 2)
(appendix 'c') Space Travel
The Americans' landing on the Moon was welcomed throughout the world as a great leap forward for the mankind. But there is a section in East Africa which is sceptical to it, on the grounds that "it is impossible to go to the heavenly bodies."
This declaration brings to mind the retrogress of knowledge amongst the Muslims. It is really very tragic to see the followers of Islam sinking to the lowest level of ignorance, while it was Islam, which declared that "to seek knowledge is incumbent upon every Muslim man and woman;" and it was Islam which exhorted its followers to learn, to observe and to think, and whose prophet said "I am the City of knowledge and Ali is its Gate."
This attitude of mind is not just a result of the low standard of Islamic learning in East Africa where anybody who can speak a few Arabic words claims to be a "sheikh". In fact, the root of this ignorance goes far deep in the Islamic history. The real cause of this ignorance is that the Muslims left "the Gate of Knowledge" and as a result had to beg from each and every house.
This led them to the pagan Greek philosophy. They devoured it and treated as if it were the God-sent revelation. How deep was their devotion to that pagan thinking can be easily gauged if we take, for example, the subject of astronomy and see what was the view of Islam, and what the Greek view and then see what the Muslims believed to be the untarnished truth.
Without going into details, I will give here the list of the Ptolemic theory about skies : That theory declared that earth was the centre of universe and was static; that there were nine skies around it, all round, transparent and having life and intelligence; that these skies were one upon another like the layers of onion, without any gap in between; that they were eternal and intelligent beings; that they were moving eternally; that the moon, sun, mars, venus, and other stars were fixed in the skies and that there was no gap or opening in the skies nor can they be cut, or opened in any way.
And what did Islam teach? It said that the skies were made of a substance which is like steam or smoke, that they are not solid, that the stars and planets "swim" in them, that there was space between one sky and the next; that the angels of God lived in them, that there were paths and gates in them etc. etc.
Now look at what the majority of the Muslims (other than the Shias) believed. They believed that Ptolemy was right, and declared (not in words but by their behaviour) that the verses of the Quran did not explain the whole truth! So they tried to interpret the Qur'an in such a way as to make it conform with the pagan Greek philosophy, Result: All the Islamic facts which did not fit in the Greek scheme of universe were distorted, reinterpreted, twisted or outright rejected. Take the example of the heavenly journey of the Holy Prophet.
It was one of the greatest miracles given to our Holy Prophet. Miracles are such performances which are not impossible, but which cannot be done without apparatus, medicine or practice. But the Prophet performs them without any practice, medicine or machinery. For example, curing the blind or lepers is not impossible. But Jesus Christ cured them without any medicine and that was his miracle.
So when our Holy Prophet went to the heavens in his life-time, it was a clear indication to the Muslims that space-journey is not impossible. But did the Muslims believe him ? Apart from the Shias and some Sunnis, all said that it was not possible. Why ? Because according to Ptolemy, skies have no opening, there is no space between the skies and all the non-sense which has been described above.
Therefore, they said that the 'Miraaj' was just a dream seen by the Holy Prophet. Strangely, they got many allies from many quarters. Foremost among them: Banu Umayya and Ahmadiyyas.
Banu Umayya whose interest in Islam was based not upon faith but upon politics, did not like the idea of any miracle of the Holy Prophet gaining ground in the minds of the Muslims. And their department of 'forgery' obliged them in this respect also. Two 'traditions' from that department are repeatedly described by the Christians, Ahmadis and majority of the Sunnis.
Aisha, wife of the Holy Prophet is alleged to say that the whole night of Miraaj, the body of the Holy Prophet was on the bed.
Moavia is claimed to say that Miraaj was a "true dream." Now the fact is that the Miraaj (whatever its interpretation) is believed to be in Mecca one or 3 years before the Hijrat.
Bibi Aisha did not enter the house of the Holy Prophet until one year after Hijrat. How could she say that she did not miss the body of the Holy Prophet at that time ?
There is only one possible explanation: This "tradition" was forged by someone who did not know the sequence of Islamic history. Otherwise he could not have attributed this "tradition" to Aisha.
And, Moavia was such an enemy of the Holy Prophet that when 8 years after Hijrat Mecca was entered into without bloodshed and Abu Sufyan (father of Moavia) seeing no alternative, accepted Islam, Moavia fled to Bahrain and wrote a nasty letter to his father condemning him on his acceptance of Islam. It was not till 9th year of Hijrat that he brought himself to profess Islam. And Miraaj was 10 or 12 years before that time. How could he know what were its facts ? He does not mention his source of information, and the inference is that there was no such source.
If you want to see how politics controlled the Islam of Umayyads, see one more "tradition" invented in their factory. The King on Damascus throne is Abdul-Malik bin Marwan. Iraq and Hijaz are in the hands of Abdullah bin Zubair. Abdul Malik does not like the idea of the pilgrims of his domain being obliged to go to Mecca (which is in his enemy's hands). So, he wants to enhance the prestige of Baitul Muqaddas which is in his domain and plans to establish "Hajj" at Baitul Muqaddas. As a part of that plan, all previous declarations that the Miraaj was a dream were forgotten and a tradition was forged that the final destination of the journey of Miraaj was Baitul Muqaddas.
Soon after that Abdullah bin Zubair was defeated and Hejaz came under Syria. Otherwise, we would surely have seen two centres of Hajj in Muslim world. The Christians revived the "traditions" of Aisha and Moavia. See, for example, the translation of the Holy Qur'an by Rev. Rodwell.
Here the interest of the Ahmadis coincided with that of the Christians, because, it was to their advantage to deny that anybody could go to heavens. Therefore, they also repeatedly mention these two "traditions" without knowing that these so called traditions have no basis at all.
Anyhow, let us see why our Holy Prophet was given that miracle. Every prophet was given a miracle concerning those very things which were highly advanced in his time. Witchcraft was prevalent in the days of Prophet Musa, therefore, he was given the miracles of his walking stick, and brightening hand.
As the Nubuwwat of our Holy Prophet was to continue up to the Day of Judgment, and, as during his Nubuwwat, people were to advance in space-travel, God gave him the miracle of Miraaj which can never be surpassed, because scientists will always go there by spacecrafts, but our Holy Prophet went to the utmost distance without any aid from any machine. That is his miracle and this miracle will always command respect from all those who do think.
(Appendix 'D') I FOLLOWED THE LIGHT OF ALLAH
By Dhikiri Omari M. Kiondo MY acceptance of Shiaism is wonderful and was due to Allah's good Guidance and Mercy. I had never heard of Shiaism before, although I had been an active Quranic pupil for at least six years.
I was schooling in one of the Missionary schools in Tanzania. In a history lesson, my teacher (who was very much accustomed to mocking the Muslim pupils in the class) said, "Muslims in East Africa are of two 'divisions' Sunnis and Shias, Dhikiri, did you know this before ?"
"No Sir. What I know is that I am a Sunni", I shyly replied. It was a shame to me. A Muslim who doesn't know important things about Islam ! For the first time I have heard the word "Shia". The teacher explained that these people "Shias" oppose the majority of the Muslims. This sentence remained in my thoughts for years. Whenever I asked my religious leaders about it, no clear answer was given. I was just told, "Those people are against the Quran. God's Messenger had no heir", which seemed to be their only reply to this question.
At last I thought that the cause of difference was difficult for me to understand. Again, another "Force" made me find more about other Muslim sects. It was the question of the responsibility of our actions. I was taught that if a person does something good or evil, it is because Allah guided him to do so. if this is the case, then, it means that Allah Himself has created two groups of people : one for paradise and another for hell. It did not seem justice to me.
In February, 1968, I came into contact with an African Sheikh. I tried to question him about the question "Will of God." From that point, the said Sheikh introduced Shiaism into my mind. In March, 1968, I sent many questions to the Shia Ithna-asheri Council of Tanzania, Dares Salaam. The questions were passed to Maulana S. S. Akhtar Rizvi, who since then has been answering my questions with much care, politeness and humbleness. Maulana S. S. Akhtar Rizvi opened my eyes. I found that all my doubts were easily removed through Shia doctrines. I felt that the way to the peace of mind was the way of Shiaism.
We (my wife and I) gradually were convinced of the truth of Shiaism. But it was a difficult decision to go against the ancestral beliefs.
I was not sure whether I was a Muslim, since I still was keeping my eyes closed, inspite of Allah's Guidance. I know I worshipped none except Him, Nor did I associate anything with Him. But I was perturbed because I knew that my persistence in going against Allah's Guidance would ruin me.
At last, my wife and I decided to follow the words and guidance of Allah. We accepted Shiaism.
I thank Allah for His True Guidance and Mercy. May He Reward anyone who has given or is going to give me a helping hand to acquire true Islamic knowledge. May He glorify Islam. May He glorify Shiaism all over the world. May He give Unity to all Muslims. May He accept our Dua and Tauba. May He bless His Messenger Muhammad (s.a.w.), his Ummat, his friends and his Ahlul-Bait with peace and give them plenty of Heavenly Rewards. Ameen.