Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rice!bigq.enet.dec.com!hakim
From: hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: On the Meaning of "Muhammad the Seal of the Prophets" (VI of VI)
Message-ID: <3390@brazos.Rice.edu>
Date: 4 Dec 89 17:15:27 GMT
Sender: root@rice.edu
Lines: 146
Approved: shari@wpi.edu


Continuation from part V:

Now, let us examine the validity of this view about the meaning of the Day of
Resurrection, based on the traditions of Muhammad and those of the Imams. 
In his commentary on Manhaj-ul-Sadegheen, Mulla Fatth-i- Kashani, offers a
tradition attributed to Muhammad, where He says: 

"I am Muhammad, and I am Ahmad and I am that resurrector, through Whom God
 shall resurrect His people...."

This quote appear to suggest that the appearance of Muhammad corresponded to 
the Day of Resurrection for "His people", "God's people", or "the people of the
Book", (Christians and Jews).

Allamih Majlesi, in his book Bahar'ul-Anvar Vol 13 page 50 mentions a tradition
from Imam Sadigh: 

"Moffadil said, that I asked Imam Sadigh that why has there not been a date
 established for the appearance of the Qa'im? He said; since, the manifestation 
 of Qa'im is that same "hour" and "resurrection" recorded in the Qur'an, whose
 knowledge is with God, and no one but God can unveil it." 

That is to say, according to Imam Sadigh the Day of the appearance of the Qa'im
corresponds with the Day of Resurrection for the followers of Islam.

I hope that the two quotations given above validate the absurdity of the popular
belief about the Day of Resurrection. Moreover, I hope that it has become
apparent that both Islam, and the Qur'an are to remain intact UNTIL the Day of
the appearance of the Promised Qa'im of the House of Muhammad. Then apparently
it is up to the Qa'im to determine whether Muslims are to follow the Qur'an, or
the Book He is going to reveal. 

Now that it has been established that the "Day of Resurrection" is indeed the
Day of the appearance of the Qa'im, let us see when is this Day of Resurrection?
In the Su'rih of Al-Sujdih (Adoration):4 we find God revealing to His Holiness
Muhammad:

"From the Heaven to the earth He governeth all things: hereafter shall they
 come up to Him on a day whose length shall be a thousand of such years as ye
 reckon."

This quotation establishes a timeline of ONE THOUSAND YEARS for the dispensation
of Islam. As you can see, that the verse quoted above suggests; "...hereafter
shall they come up to Him (i.e. God)....", which explicitly refers to the time
that they will arise before their God, or the time they will be resurrected. 
Thus the quote given above, suggests: "....hereafter shall they BE RESURRECTED
on a day whose length shall be a thousand of such years as ye reckon." . 

Notice how clearly Sadigh, that essence of knowledge identifies the day of
resurrection with the appearance of Qa'im, in the tradition of Mofaddil quoted
above, without directly referring to the one thousand years timeline for the
appearance of the twelfth Imam, per Al-Sujdih (Adoration):4. 

Moreover, according to another Tradition; Mufaddil asked Imam Sadigh saying: 

"'What of the signs of His (i.e. Qa'im's) manifestation, O my master?' He
 replied: 'In the year sixty (i.e. 1260 A.H.), His Cause (i.e. religion) shall
 be made manifest, and His name shall be proclaimed.'". 

Reference to the year sixty, is an allegorical way to describe 1260 A.H., which
is exactly 1000 years (which according to Adoration:4 is the day of the coming
of the Qa'im) after 260 A.H., which is the year of the passing of Imam Hasan-i-
Asghari, the 11th Imam of the House of the Prophet. 

The Ba'b addresses this timeline explicitly in His Book, Baya'n, as follows:

"....And from  the moment when  the Tree  of Baya'n  [i.e. The Ba'b is referring
to Himself]  appeared until it  disappeareth is  the Resurrection of the Apostle
of  God,  as  is  divinely foretold in  the Qur'an;  the beginning of which  was
when  two  hours  and  eleven  minutes  had  passed  on the eve of the fifth  of
Jamadiyu'l-Avval,  1260  A.H. [May 22 1844 A.D.], which is the year 1270 of  the
Declaration of  the Mission  of Muhammad. This was  the beginning  of the Day of
Resurrection of  the Qur'an, and  until the disappearance  of the Tree of divine
Reality is the Resurrection of the Qur'an."    [The Persian Baya'n II:7]

The concept of the 1260 years have also been mentioned in the Book of Daniel 
(Old Testament), and the Book of Revelation (New Testament). Interestingly
enough, the Promised Qa'im of Shiet Islam, or the Promised Mihdi of Sunni Islam
is the same Messenger awaited by Jews (i.e. Elijah), and by Christians (i.e. the
return of John the Baptist), who is going to appear and  pave the way for the
appearance of Christ, the Glory of God.

There are other traditions from the Imams of the Faith, which explicitly refers
to the Qa'im or Mihdi, as a law-giver, and an author of a new religion. Perhaps
the following few quotations will shed some light on this issue, which has been
the cause of much confusion among the majority of Muslims throughout the past
millennium. 

According to a Tradition recorded in the volume 13 of Bahar'ul-Anvar of Majlesi:

"In our Qa'im there shall be four signs from four Prophets. Moses, Jesus, Joseph
 and Muhammad. The sign from Moses, is fear and expectation; from Jesus, that
 which was spoken of Him; from Joseph, imprisonment and dissimulation; from
 Muhammad, the Revelation of a Book similar to the Qur'an." 

Furthermore, in the Tradition of Arba'in it is recorded: 

"Out of Bani-Hashim there shall come forth a Youth Who shall reveal new laws.
 He shall summon the people unto Him, but none will heed His call. Most of His
 enemies will be the divines (i.e. the religious leaders). His bidding they
 will not obey, but will protest  saying: 'This is contrary to that which hath
 been handed down unto us by the  Imams of the Faith." 

Moreover, Imam Sadiq is recorded to have said: 

"There shall appear a Youth from Bani-Hashim, Who will bid the people plight
 fealty unto Him. His Book will be a new Book, unto which He shall summon  the
 people to pledge their faith. Stern is His Revelation unto the Arab. If ye hear
 it about Him, hasten unto Him." 

Considering all the traditions and verses quoted above one can either implicitly
or explicitly conclude the following:

1- The term Khatam'u-Nabieen has several inner meanings, non of which suggest
   cessation of Revelation from God
2- Islam is not everlasting, but it has a special term and time; 
3- Islam and the Qur'an are valid until the Day of Resurrection;
4- The day of resurrection is the time of the appearance of the Qa'im or the
   12th Imam;
5- The day of resurrection is established to happen in 1000 years.
6- Therefore the day of the appearance of the Qa'im is within 1000 years from
   some point in the Islamic dispensation (i.e. 260 A.H. year of the passing of
   the 11th Imam.) 
7- The Qa'im will have His own religion.
8- The Qa'im will have His own Book.
9- The Qa'im of the House of Muhammad is the Promised One of the Jews, and
   Christians as well.

Might this be a fresh outlook for the pure in heart, to re-evaluate their faith
and polish off the corrosion of dogmatism from their beliefs, and replace the
inherited views with mindful ones, which are based on independent investigation
of truth. I beg the Lord to illumine our hearts, and inspire our minds to be
fair in our judgments. I would like to close this discussion by the following
verse of the Holy Qur'an:

"O Believers: If any evil-doer come to you with news, clear it up at once [i.e.
 determine its truth or falsity], lest  through ignorance ye harm others, and
 speedily have to repent of what ye have done."  
							[Hujaraat-49:6]

						Part VI of VI
Regards,

Kamran Hakim
hakim@bigq.dec.com				Tel#508-568-6925