On 26th of June, the 45th session of the Forum took place, as usual, at the New Horizons Church, situated at 1510 Birchmount Road, Unit # 103, Scarborough.
The Topic of the Day was:“THE WORD OF GOD” and as to why the Christians believe in the Bible and the Muslims in the Qura’an”. Rev. Scott Wilkinson was to talk for Christians and Dr.Masood Iqbal Nadvi for the Muslims.
= Tariq Khan, the Director of the Forum, welcomed the guests and then handed over the stage to Miss Andrea for conducting the business. The Forum that has been attempting to bring closer the two major com-munities of the world, the Christians and the Muslims, also wants to encourage youngsters by making them participate in such educational events. As such, in every session, 20 minutes are reserved for youngsters to express their views. This time, two youngsters, one Tha’eerul Hasan, a Muslim boy and Katie Vanderklipe, a Christian girl , very well expressed their views on the topic, which well appreciated by the audience. Before inviting the main speakers, Miss Andrea asked the two Moderators, Mr. Richard Scharringa, a Christian, and Mr. Khaleel Siddiqi, a Muslim, to occupy the chairs reserved for them. Then she invited Muslim Schalor, Dr. Masood Iqbal Nadvi to explain as to why Muslims believe that Qur’aan is the “Word of God”.
Muslim Speaker:-
= The learned speaker, first of all described the 1st 40 years’ life & unblemished character of Mohammad (bpuh), i.e. before the prophet-hood was bestowed upon him. He was the most honest, most trust-worthy, most reliable and most loveable personality of the society. He never indulged in any sort of any evil activity.
= Then he described as to how the Qur’aan was revealed to him in next 23 years, part by part, by angle Jabra’eel, Allah’s messenger; and how it was compiled and preserved during Prophet’s(bpuh). life-time. There were hundreds of his Followers, called Sahaba, who as per tradition of that age, used to learn it by-heart. Then there were also few educated Followers who were assigned the job of writing down the Revelations (Katibeen –e-Wahi) soon after it was revealed. The Prophet (pbuh) would then advise them to place each revealed sentence (Aayeth) in the Chapter (Sura) as per instructions of Allah, that he used to receive through angel Jabra’eel. In this way, the entire Qur’aan, its each word & sentence, that the Followers learned-by-heart or recorded, was WORD OF GOD and NOT the creation of the Prophet (bpuh).
= Then the learned speaker informed that Qur’aan is the only religious book in the world which is available in its original version since past 1,400 years, un-adulterad, and un- polluted. One may pick up any copy of the Qur’aan from any nook or corner of the world and will find not a single word different than the original Arabic version.
= As far as its Originality is concerned, Dr.Nadvi described how after the death of the Prophet (bpuh), his first Calif, Abu-Bakar Siddiq (r.a.), set a committee consisting of some most trusted Followers to write down the Qur’aan in the same order what was taught by the Prophet (bpuh) during the last few months before his death. The committee collected all available information at that time: (1) The written pieces of the holy script which were in possession of some Followers;
(2) The record with those Followers who were assigned to write down the message of Allah immediately after it was revealed to the Prophet (bpuh) and (3) From those Followers who had heard & remembered it by heart exactly as to how the Prophet (bpuh) recited it in the last few months of his life.
= The committee after completing its task, the First Copy of the Book of Allah, showed it to all the Followers, who confirmed that each word of it was exactly in the same order & sequence as Prophet (bpuh) had taught. The first copy, so compiled, may be seen, carefully kept, in the Istanbul (Turkey) museum.
= The learned speaker then explained some other factors also that make Muslims believe Qur’aan to be the WORD OF GOD:-
1) It comes from a person who for the first 40 years of his life,was known to be an ideal person. His character, his dealings with the people, his honesty, his verdicts on disputes, etc etc were always above board. He was never a liar but always regarded as the most honest & straightforward person. A man of these superb qualities could not lie particularly when he was conveying a message, not for his personal gain but for the good of the people. History has later proved that his message, (the holy Qur’aan) brought a revolutionary change, a positive and peaceful one, in the life of people, not only in Arabia but all over the world.
2) The second reason has been that Mohammad (bpuh) was an uneducated person. He was unable to read or write. Whereas the language of Qur’aan is a “Classic” and so unique which could not be the out-come of an un-educated mind. Arabs who were so proud of the richness of their language, got stunned when they heard the Qur’aan. So much that when they were challenged to write one sentence of that calibre, they could not do but to admit that ti was nothing but from some super human source.
3) The 3rd thing was the information that Qur’aan gave about the events that had taken place centuries back; AND about creation of the universe & earth; the construction of human body; the life and other realities above and under the surface of the earth; about oceans, skies, etc which science is now discovering and confirming. Mohammad (bpuh), was neither educated nor had ever performed any journey by sea; or had any knowledge of Geography, Physics, Biology or Chemistry. He, therefore, was not capable of disclosing those Facts that the Qur’aan revealed.. As such, Qur’aan is nothing but undoubtedly the “Word of God” & Mohammad (bpuh) was His Messenger.
= It is also a Living Miracle that Qur;aan is the only book in the world which is available in its Original Form and Language, without a single Word or a Letter or a Sentence Changed in it ! Also, it is the only book in the world which all the time since past 1,400 years, had and still is still having, fleet of people (in thousands) who Remember it by Heart who are called HAFIZ, in Arabic language.
Christian Speaker:-
= The objective of this Forum has been to develop better understanding and promote harmonious atmosphere between the two largest communities of the world, the Christians and the Muslims. It is an humble start of the gigantic task of bringing peace & prosperity all over the world. For this noble cause, two Canadian friends, Tony Zekveld, a Christian of Dutch origin, and Tariq Khan, a Pakistani Muslim, joined hands to form a Forum on August 23, 2000. Every month, they invited Scholars from each community to talk about their religion without hurting the feelings of the other group. The sponsors have always been very careful in the selection of the “Topic of the Day” as well as of the Speaker. In the past 44 sessions, no Speaker crossed his border and invaded the other side. However, this time the Christian Scholar, Rev.Scott Wilkinson, surprised the audience when instead of proving as to why the Christians believe Bible to be the Word of God, assaulted on the Muslims’ belief in their Book, Qur’aan, and in their faith in Mohammad (bpuh)as Messenger of God. Although he admitted that Bible has seventeen different versions, yet it, the Bible, according to him, is the Word of God. The writers / persons who compiled those 17 different versions give the same message and information. There may be some differences in their narration of some events and expressions, yet they are all very reliable & authentic !
It would have been perfectly fine IF the Learned Speaker had confined his speech in proving the Bible to be the Word of God, but it created a bad blood when he started condemning Muslims’ Belief.
His remarks, naturally hurt the Muslims audience. So much so that a gentleman asked my, (a Moderator’s), permission to speak to prove that the Bible is a corrupted version is not the same what message Jesus had brought. I did not allow because it is against the very objective of our Forum. We are to develop love & better under- standing among Christians & Muslims, not to provide a stage for DEBATES. “SKY”