Return to Home PageBetraying God and His Messenger
Editorial
By
Barry
L. Baker
Palmdale, California
I am constantly searching the Internet for information, articles of faith, and stories by believers. Throughout the search I come across many a TIRADE by "Believers" about the actions of others. One of the largest are those that make the statement (not directly) but through their words that say, "Dr. Rashad Khalifa - The Messenger of the Covenant" is the LAST Messenger and in fact is the Messenger that God is referring to when He states in the Quran "Obey God and The Messenger".
Nowhere in the Quran have found anything that says that Dr. Khalifa was the last messenger, nor do I find any mention of him being the messenger that is to be followed.
First of all, I do not believe that Dr. Khalifa was the last messenger, nor do I believe that he is the person that God is referring to in the above statement. Dr. Khalifa is dead, there is no way to follow someone that is dead. During his life, Dr. Khalifa said, "Follow the Quran" he did not say follow him.
How many messengers will God send to this world, the answer to that is completely unknown. All we know is that God states that He will send messengers to every community. And what does "community" mean, is it a Nation, a language speaking group of people, What? If you look at the broadest meaning of the term (In English), a community could be only a very small group of people, in fact a city could contain a large number of communities. So, how many messengers will God send? I have no idea, all I know is that He states that He will send messengers to each community. And that the messenger will be in the language of the people.
Yes, there are men that say that they are a Messenger of God. And then there those people that state, "you cannot be a messenger of God, you have not given us Proof" or "You cannot be a messenger of God, Dr. Khalifa was the last". There are all kinds of reasons to disbelieve anyone for any reason, all you have to do is look.
Is it our place to judge, do we have the obligation to determine Who and Who is Not a Messenger? I believe that responsibility is in the hands of God.
What does God say about Messengers. I do not quote Sura/ayat, only speak from knowledge of reading the Quran. God send many messengers to this world, some he told us about, and some He did not tell us about. Some messengers came with strong proof, such as Jesus and Moses. Some messengers came without any proof. What proof did Abraham have, What proof did Mohammed have. Nowhere in the Quran have I found any statement that says that "All Messengers" will be given Proof. What I do find is that the messengers will be men like us, they will walk in the markets, eat of the same food, be family men with wives and children. I am sure that if God deemed it necessary His he would send a messenger with extremely strong proof, but otherwise they would be just like us.
So, now what is our responsibility in this matter. If someone says that they are a Messenger of God. Do we immediately ask, "Where is Your Proof"? Or should We ask the following questions instead:
1. Is he a man like us?
2. Does he eat the food we eat?
3. Does he walk in the markets?
4. Does he have a wife and children?
5. Does he advocate the Worship if God Alone?
6. Does he advocate the reading and following of the Quran?
7. Does he condemn the practice of Hadith and Sunna?
8. Does he uphold Salat, Zakat, Hajj, Ramadan, etc.?
9. Does he ask for a wage?
If the answer to these questions is 8-yes'es and 1-no, then where is the problem. If he is a true messenger, then he will be telling us to follow God and the Messenger. In this case I believe that the "Messenger" is the Quran itself. If this person completely follows what I have found to be the truth from the Quran and does not deviate from the teachings of the Quran, then I do not have any problem with them. If however, they deviate from the teaching of the Quran, then that is another matter entirely.
It is God who will judge, God is fully knowledgeable of who He sends as a messenger. If this person is a false messenger, God will make it known to a true believer, the dis-believers or strayer will not see it.
One must remember that God is in full control of all things. Far to many people are trying to give Satan power that he does not have. Satan has only that power that we give him. He cannot of himself make anything happen, only God can do that.
All Praise be to God:
The Lord and Master of the Universes
The Exalted, The King, The Almighty, The All Powerful, The All Knowing, The All Seeing, The All Merciful, The All Compassionate