إن الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره، ونعوذ بالله تعالى من شرور أنفسنا، وسيئات أعمالنا، ، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله ، اللهم صلِّ وسلم وبارك على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وأصحابه  ومن تبعه إلى يوم الدين

Several studies were made to assess the religiosity of Muslims in America and similar studies have also been made on Muslims in Islamic countries including countries such as Saudi Arabia.  The results of these studies were similar and they show that not a small percentage, particularly among the Muslim youth, have left Islam. 

A 2017 Pew Research Center survey of Muslims across America found that about 23% of those who were raised Muslims have left Islam.  This percentage was similar to Americans who were raised Christian, 22% of them no longer identify with Christianity.

But an interesting element of this study is that unlike other religions, Islam gains about as many converts as it loses, 23% of the American Muslim adults are converts.  So, 23% of the Muslims leaves Islam and they are replaced by 23% converts.  This is consistent with Allah’s revelation:

يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ مَن يَرۡتَدَّ مِنكُمۡ عَن دِينِهِۦ فَسَوۡفَ يَأۡتِى ٱللَّهُ بِقَوۡمٍ۬ يُحِبُّہُمۡ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ ۥۤ

“O you who believe, if anyone from you turns back from his Faith, then Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him,” (Al-Maeda 5:54)

In examining the reasons for Muslims leaving Islam, the study found that:

44% cited issues with the religion and disagreement with the teachings of Islam

16% listed reasons related to preference for other religions or philosophies

14% cited personal growth such as becoming more educated or maturing

8% said that they do not believe in God

The problem is that not only Muslims in the West, particularly the youth who are leaving Islam, but also Muslims in the Muslim countries are leaving Islam.  An article entitled “Invisible Atheists’ published in “The New Republic journal, 24 April 2015)” cited a 2012, WIN/Gallup International poll which found that 5% of Saudi citizens self-identified as ‘convinced atheists,’ and 19 per cent of Saudis—almost six million people—think of themselves as “not a religious person.”  It is also reported that the book “God Delusion” written by the atheist-scientist “Richard Dawkin” is the most downloaded book in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia.

We may be more fortunate in the US for two reasons:  1) those who leave Islam are being replaced by converts who enter Islam based on true belief and thus, they become better Muslims, and 2) those who leave Islam do not become active in attacking Islam.  

However, Muslim countries are not as lucky because 1) Muslims who leave Islam are no replaced by converts and 2) those who leave Islam become active in promoting their false ideology to convince the Muslim youth. The sad part is that the Muslim media gives those people forums in the TV to spread their falsehood. 

What are the reasons for this Challenge?  There are two reasons that are interrelated:

The first reason is that all those who leave Islam are born in Muslim families and they have not studied Islam to convince themselves that it is a divine religion.  It is critical that every Muslim should have strong belief based on proofs of three fundamentals:  1) Allah exists, 2) Mohammad (PBUH) is a messenger form Allah and 3) The Quran is the book of Allah. If the person is convinced with these three basic elements, he/she will never have doubts about the authenticity of Islam.

The second reason is that with massive social media, many issues are being published to create doubt about the authenticity of Islam and its sources.  Sadly, you find Muslims who have very limited knowledge accept false claims as proofs and propagate them. 

As example, you find in social media arguments that there are linguistic errors in the Quran.  Even some Arab Muslims get convinced with this false claim and use it as justification for leaving Islam.  This may be the most absurd claim because the Quran challenged the Arabs who were the most sophisticated in the Arabic language to come with even one chapter similar to it.   This false claim can be easily rejected based on a very simplistic logic; how can the Quran have grammatical errors when the Arabic grammar was developed after the revelation of the Quran and was based on the language use in the Quran. The first book written on the rules of the Arabic language was written by Abi Al-Aswad Al-Dwali (أبي الأسود الدؤلي) (67 H) based on instruction from Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb (علي بن أبي طالب) when he was the Khalifa. During the time of Haroun Al-Rasheed (هارون الرشيد) a more comprehensive book on the rules of the Arabic language was written by Sibawayh (سيبويه) whose full name is Abu Bishr Amr ibn Uthman ibn Qanbar al-Basri, (أبو بشرٍ عمرُو بنُ عثمانَ بنِ قنبرٍ) (180H).

These two reasons are interrelated because if the Muslim is well grounded in his religion by solid proof of its authenticity, none of the issues that are intended to create doubts will impact him.

When a Muslim is questioned by a person who raises doubt about any Islamic issue, he should analyze the issue based on 6 basic elements:

1. Assess whether this claim is consistent with Islamic teachings
2. Ask the claimant to bring the proof
3. Ensure that the proof is authentic and there is direction relationship between the proof and the claim
4. Ensure that the Proof is the cause of the claim
5. Ensure that the claim is not associated with ambiguous proof while there is another concise and ambiguous proof that invalidates the claim
6. Ensure that the claim is not based on selective choice of the text whiel there are other texts that invalidates it.

Examples

First:  You should assess whether this doubtful matter is consistent with Islamic teachings.  The person who wanted to create confusion often offers an issue that is not even an issue in Islam. 

As example, if someone wants to argue against the end of Prophethood by Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), You, Muslims, consider that only Prophets are infallible but you consider Imam Bukhari as infallible because you treat his book of hadeath as fully authentic and thus you consider him as Prophet eventhough he was born about 200 years after Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).     This is obviously false claim because no Muslim ever considered Imam Bukhari as infallible. The issue of authentication of hadeath is completely different.  

Second You need to request from the person who is making a claim to come with a proof for it.  This is a general Islamic rule that the proof is incumbent upon the claimant.  As example, if someone claims that Islam is not suitable for this time.  Instead of trying to argue against the claims, just ask him, what is his proof that the Islam is not suitable for this time. 

Also, if someone wants to invalidates all the book of hadeath by claiming that there is no way to ensure the authenticity of the hadeath that was said 1400 years ago. You need to ask him with a proof that there is no way to proof that something that was said 1400 years ago or even long can be authentic.  

I recall there two people in the Masjid who were objecting that we don’t have solid barrier between the men and the women sections.  I used to defend our design and present justifications that having a wall can actually be against the Prophet’s teachings but they kept objecting.  Then I changed my strategy told them if come with any proof from the Quran or the Prophet that a solid barrier is required then we will install one.  They stopped making their objection. 

But there may expectation to this element when the justification for the claim is that there is no proof.  As example, if someone wants to invalidates the relevance of hadith since early Muslims did not have the Bukhari books of hadith and obviously this means that they did not need the hadith.  His proof of the claim that there were no books of hadith before Imam Bukhari.  Here you have to correct the information because there were a lot of books of hadith that were written before Iman Bukhari was born.  This person obviously lacks basic information because he should at least have known that Imam Malik has a book of hadith.

Third:  Even if the person comes with a proof for his claim, you need to ensure that 1) the proof is authentic, and 2) there is a direct relationship between the proof and the claim.  As example if someone claims that Allah does not exist because of the suffering of the innocent people that we see around us. This claim is false because there is no direct connection between the presence of suffering and the existing of Allah. 

In fact, the Quran includes many accounts of people who have suffered and Allah gave them victory but not on their time but on Allah’s time. The story of the Pharaoh and the children of Israel is very clear that they suffered greatly from the Pharaoh’s atrocities who used to slaughter their male children.   Allah says:

إِنَّ فِرۡعَوۡنَ عَلَا فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَجَعَلَ أَهۡلَهَا شِيَعً۬ا يَسۡتَضۡعِفُ طَآٮِٕفَةً۬ مِّنۡہُمۡ يُذَبِّحُ أَبۡنَآءَهُمۡ وَيَسۡتَحۡىِۦ نِسَآءَهُمۡ‌ۚ إِنَّهُ ۥ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلۡمُفۡسِدِينَ (٤) وَنُرِيدُ أَن نَّمُنَّ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسۡتُضۡعِفُواْ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَنَجۡعَلَهُمۡ أَٮِٕمَّةً۬ وَنَجۡعَلَهُمُ ٱلۡوَٲرِثِينَ (٥) وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمۡ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَنُرِىَ فِرۡعَوۡنَ وَهَـٰمَـٰنَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنۡهُم مَّا ڪَانُواْ يَحۡذَرُونَ (٦)  

“Indeed, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land, and had divided its people into different groups; he used to persecute a group of them, slaughtering their sons and keeping their women alive.  Indeed, he was one of the mischief-makers, (4) While We intended to favor those who were weak and oppressed in the land, and to make them leaders and make them inheritors, (5) And give them power in the land, and to show Pharaoh, Haman and their armies the very thing they were fearing from them.” (Al-Qasas 28:4-6)

Another example is a person who claims that the Bukhari books is false because he collected 600,000 hadeath in 16 years and this is impossible because it would mean that he collected a hadeath every 14 minutes if we ignore his personal needs such as sleep.  How can this be possible if we say that he used to travel to collect and validate a single hadeath.  This claim is sadly being promoted by some Muslims whose motive is to discredit the sunnah and say the Quran is the only reference. 

While the claim that Imam Bukhari collected 600,000 hadeath is correct, the conclusion is false because the person who is making it does not know what a single hadeath means and what did Bukhari do before these 16 years and whether other books of Hadeath were written before Imam Bukhari.  Just as explanation, if the same hadeath is available from 100 directions with each direction having some different narrators in the chain, this same hadeath will be counted as 100 hadeath.   Imam Bukhari will report n hi book the chain that meets his criteria regarding the accuracy of the narrators.  (By the way Imam Bukhari books has 7563 hadeath but there are about 3000 them that are repetitive because he used to include the same hadeath under different topics when it is relevant.) 

Fourth, you should ensure that the proof is the cause of the claim.   As example, in the past people used to believe that God exists because He is the One who is holding all the stars by His hand from falling.  After Newton discovered the presence of gravity and the physics behind the stability of the stars relative to each other, some people started making the claim that God must not have existed because there is no need for Him.   Obviously, the link between the proof and the claim is not necessary since God can be the one who created the forces and established the laws of physics.  We only discovered the laws of physics and knowing them does not negate God’s existence but rather affirms His existence.

Fifth is that you need to ensure that the claim that is being made is not associated with ambiguous proof while there are other proofs that are concise and unambiguous that invalidates the claim.  This is important issue and Allah warned from those people who uses the ambiguous verses to create confusion. 

هُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلَيۡكَ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبَ مِنۡهُ ءَايَـٰتٌ۬ مُّحۡكَمَـٰتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ ٱلۡكِتَـٰبِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَـٰبِهَـٰتٌ۬‌ۖ فَأَمَّا ٱلَّذِينَ فِى قُلُوبِهِمۡ زَيۡغٌ۬ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَـٰبَهَ مِنۡهُ ٱبۡتِغَآءَ ٱلۡفِتۡنَةِ وَٱبۡتِغَآءَ تَأۡوِيلِهِۦ‌ۗ وَمَا يَعۡلَمُ تَأۡوِيلَهُ ۥۤ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ‌ۗ وَٱلرَّٲسِخُونَ فِى ٱلۡعِلۡمِ يَقُولُونَ ءَامَنَّا بِهِۦ كُلٌّ۬ مِّنۡ عِندِ رَبِّنَا‌ۗ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّآ أُوْلُواْ ٱلۡأَلۡبَـٰبِ (٧)

““He is the (One) Who sent down to you the Book, in it there are verses that are concise and clear “Muhkamat” and they are the foundation (Literally: the Mother) of the Book,

and there are others that are ambiguous “Mutashabihat” (whose definite meanings are not entirely unclear). Those whose hearts are deviant follow the ambiguous parts “mutashabih,” seeking confusion and seeking its interpretation (“taiweleh”); while no one knows its interpretation “taiweleh” except Allah.

And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: “We have believed in it; all is from our Lord.”

And no one can always be in state of awareness except those who are endowed with intellects.” (Al-Imran 3:7)

This point is so critical because many of the Muslim youth get trapped in arguing about the “mutashabih,” the ambiguous verses without being grounded on the “Muhkamat” the concise and clear verses first.  Unfortunately, this leads them to confusion and doubt that may lead some of them to even rejecting the religion all together.

Sixth, you need to ensure that the claim that is being made is not based on selective verse or hadith while there are other verses or hadith that provide comprehensive understanding and thus invalidate the claim. 

As example, one may claim that Islam does not assure freedom of religion and it promotes hypocrisy because it threatens the person who wants to leave Islam with death, this is what is called “Hadd Al-Rida” (حد الردة) (the Punishment for Apostasy).  And he comes with hadith as a proof.  This is a case of making a claim based a selective proof because the claim will be invalidated based on 11 verses from the Quran and another similar hadith as the one being proposed as proof as well as clarification by several well recognized scholars such as Abu Hanifa and ibn Timiah. (If there is interest, we can address this erroneous claim in details in a separate talk). 

The key point in all these elements is that a Muslim must be grounded in his religion to ensure that no doubt comes in his mind by false and baseless claims.  After all, with the advance of social media, Muslims, particularly the youth are bombarded will many false claims about Islam that seem to them as legitimate and thus create doubt in their mind about the authenticity of the religion and even about its perfection regarding promoting mercy and justice. In fact, even if the person doesn’t want to see such false claims, he cannot avoid them because if the hashtag achieve trend on Twitter, he will see them.

This is very clear because you see some Muslim try to justify clear prohibitions by Allah and thus create conflict within themselves that can end up by them leaving Islam. Recall that in the Pew study, 44% of the Muslims who left Islam cited the cause as their disagreement with the certain teachings of Islam. 

Unless those Muslims are convinced that the Quran is a revealed book of Allah, they will always be at risk of being influenced by the opinions of others that seem to be promoting more human freedom and mercy.

As I mentioned, a Muslim must be convinced that the Quran is a miraculous book of Allah and Mohammed (PBUH) is his messenger to accept the teachings of Islam and avoid getting confused by any claims.  There are many books have been published on this subject.  In the remaining few minutes let me offer two examples illustrating the miracles often Quran:

The first miracle is that the Quran addresses the heart of all people, even if they do not understand the Arabic language, providing they listen to it with purity of heart without the filters of preconceived idea and arrogance.     A good example illustrating the impact of the Quran on the heart is what happened to Sayedna Omar when he heard it for the time when his heart was softened after feeling guilty about striking his sister’s face.  

We clearly note this impact on the non-Arabic speaking Muslims when you see tears in their eyes when they hear the Quran.  This miracle was fully recognized by the leaders of the unbelievers of Mecca and this was why they were always trying to prevent people from hearing the Quran.

The second miracle is that the Quran is unique among all other religious scriptures because it asks any doubters to examine it using a truly scientific approach.  The Quran offers falsification tests that represent a concept that has only been demanded by the scientific community within the last century. They say: If you have a theory, do not bother us with it unless you can identify a way for us to prove whether it is correct or not.   For the scientific community to accept Einstein’s new theory of general relativity, he said to them:  “I conclude that the universe works like this; and here are three ways to prove whether I am right or wrong!” 

The Quran included two falsification tests for anyone who is skeptic.

The first falsification test basically state: If this book is not what it claims to be, a divine revelation, then all you have to do is find an error or a contradiction in it.

أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ الْقُرْآنَ وَلَوْ كَانَ مِنْ عِنْدِ غَيْرِ اللَّهِ لَوَجَدُوا فِيهِ اخْتِلَافًا كَثِيرًا

“Do they not ponder on the Quran?  Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found discrepancies in it,” (4:82).

The second falsification test basically state:  If this book is not what it claims to be, a divine revelation, gather your best people and let them try to produce a chapter similar to any of its chapters.

وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَى عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ وَادْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُمْ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ  فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَلَنْ تَفْعَلُوا فَاتَّقُوا النَّارَ الَّتِي وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَ

“If you are in any doubt about what We have revealed to our servant, then produce a chapter like it and call in your witnesses beside God if you are so truthful.  But if you do not – and you will never do so – then heed the fire which has been prepared for disbelievers whose fuel is mankind and stones” (2:23-24). 

The linguistic miracle of the Quran with respect to style, and artistic qualities was the one is the one that completely stunned the Arabs during the life of the Prophet and made them apt against the Quran’s challenge to produce a chapter similar to any of its chapters. 

Translations will completely void the Quran of many miracles, particularly the linguistic miracle with respect to style, and artistic and aesthetic qualities. This miracle is the one that completely stunned the Arabs during the life of the Prophet and made them apt against the Quran’s challenge to produce a chapter similar to any of its chapters.  The challenge is even more compelling when one of the chapters of the Quran only has 3 verses.

This challenge goes beyond the linguistic miracle of the Quran, it includes its content.  The Qur’an includes many scientific verses on topics such as geology, astronomy, botany, biology, etc.    One of the great miracles of the Quran is the language used in describing this scientific knowledge.  The language used in describing these scientific information can intrigue the person who is specialized in the subject and does not confuse the person who barely read and write.  There is no book that ever written by a human being that can be read by both the layman and the person what has the highest degree and learn from it.

This is brief proof for the divine nature of the Quran.   I have previously discussed the proofs that Allah exist and in a future topic we can, inshallah, discuss the proofs that Prophet Mohammad in a Messenger of Allah.

But related to the subject of today’s talk, let me know if you have any issue that you may feel uncomfortable with that we can discuss in future talks.

DUA