Responses to Islamic Awareness

Every Nation Was Sent A Messenger.....


Dr. Saifullah attempts to convince us, in this section, that God sent every nation a messenger to preach monotheism. There are extensive historical records from many ancient civilizations including China, India, Egypt, Persia, and Mesopotamia. None of these histories show a civilization that worshiped one god exclusively , except for perhaps the Zoroastrians of Persia. Saifullah cites the quasi-monotheistic beliefs of the Kapauku Papuans of Guinea and the Dinka tribe of the southern Sudan in an attempt to convince us of his (and the Qur'an's) thesis. Does this thesis stand the test of reason?

Dr. Saifullah tells us :

It is an Islamic viewpoint that every nation was sent a Messenger for their guidance. The important matter was the concept of Tawheed i.e., in oneness of Allah. The secondary matter was Shariah which kept changing from tribe to tribe and nation to nation. Allah, the most high, alone knows what is good for His creation. As it is mentioned in the Qur'an:

And for every Ummah (a community or a nation), there is a Messenger; when their Messenger comes, the matter will be judged between them with justice, and they will not be wronged. (Qur'an 10:47)

AND

And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (community, nation) a Messenger (proclaiming): "Worship Allah (Alone), and avoid (or keep away from) Taghut (all false deities, etc. i.e., do not worship Taghut besides Allah)." Then of them were some whom Allah guided and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified. So travel through the land and see what was the end of those who denied (the truth). (Qur'an 16:36)

BUT, this Sura also tells us:

"And [remember] the day [of judgment] when We shall send forth in every nation a witness upon them from among themselves, and We shall bring you [O Muhammad] as a witness over these [people]. And We have sent down upon you the Book (the Qur'an), as an exposition of all things, a guidance, a mercy, and glad tidings for those who submitted themselves [Literally: Those who became 'Muslims']" The noble Qur'an, Al-Nahil(16):89

So, in other words, Muhammad is the main witness and the Qur'an is the standard by which all will be judged at the final judgment. Therefore, Muhammad and the Qur'an are of infinitely greater importance than the "Messengers", "prophets", or "books" of the other tribes and nations since only "those who became Muslims" will obtain God's mercy. So much for Saifullah's intellectual flirtation with Universalist philosophy!

He continues by citing the beliefs of the Kapauku Papuans and the Dinka. However, he gives us an important disclaimer:

The material below is an attempt to show that how different tribes in different parts of the world had Monotheism, i.e., worship of one true God. But along the true God some subservient gods are also worshiped in some cases.

So, if they worship other (subservient) gods, is this truly monotheism? What happened to the "message" given to them by their "messenger"? An all-powerful God can certainly protect His message... right?

In spite of Sura 10:47, which claims that God sent a messenger to every nation, Sura 29:27 contradicts this by proclaiming:

And We bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob, and We established the prophethood and the Scripture among his seed, and We gave him his reward in the world, and lo! in the Hereafter he verily is among the righteous.

In other words, since Prophethood comes through the descendants of Isaac and Jacob, the "messengers" sent to the Kapauku Papuans, the Dinka, the Arabs, and any other group apart from the Jews, can not, and did not, bring the message of God! The Bible tells us that Prophethood, and our ultimate redemption through Jesus Christ, comes to us by this lineage. However, this contradiction, once again, suggests that the Qur'an is not the Word of an all-knowing God. After all, God, never contradicts Himself because, as you love to say, God knows best!

Andrew Vargo

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