Saturday, September 20, 2008

How to be a prophet Part I

Book 029, Number 5625:
Ubida b. as-Samit reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The vision of a believer is the forty-sixth part of Prophecy.

Book 029, Number 5629:
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The vision Qf a pious man is the forty-sixth part of Prophecy.

Book 029, Number 5632:
Ibn 'Umar reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The pious dreams are the seventieth part of Prophecy.

The point of the above hadiths show that in order to be "part prophet" you should either have dreams of a pious man, or a pious dream...

1) What does having dreams of piety have anything to do with prophecy?
a) Prophecy is being able to predict something that is to come. WHat does prophecy have anything to do with it?
b)Mohammad would see dreams of little girls, who he would then marry. Does this mean that he is not a prophet?
Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated that the Prophet (The blessing and peace of Allah be upon him) said to her: “You have been shown to me twice in my dream. I saw you pictured on a piece of silk and someone said (to me), ‘This is your wife.’ When I uncovered the picture, I saw that it was yours. I said: ‘If this is from Allah, it will be done.’”Sahih Al-Bukhari, Number 3895. See also Number 5078.
c) If Mohammad had seen a dream of a pious man, would he have also married him the same way he married Aisha?
i) Afterall, Mohammad's version of paradise is littered with young boys:
052.024 YUSUFALI: Round about them will serve, (devoted) to them, young male servants (handsome) as Pearls well-guarded.
056.017 YUSUFALI: Round about them will (serve) youths [otherwise known as boys - young girls are directly said in english tranlations] of perpetual (freshness),
076.019 "And immortal boys will circulate among them, when you see them you will count them as scattered pearls."
2) If Mohammad's version of a pious man is meant to be neutral, does piety really mean who one would marry or have sexual relations with?
a) After all, in order to be like Mohammad, wouldnt one assume that his actions are consistent with what is good and bad (i.e. having dreams about 6 year olds, and then marrying them). In this case, dreaming of someone pious and then marrying them, irrespective if they are male or female?
3) Ubida b. as-Samit, Abu Huraira and Umar use different percentages in calculating prophethood based on the same criteria
a) Does this mean that Muslim is implicitly saying that either Ubida b. as-Samit and Abu Huraira are lying, or is Umar the liar?

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