Belief in God requires believing God. When you believe in God and worship Him alone, you must believe everything God says. For example, God has told us that there are angels. Therefore, we must believe God; we must believe that there are angels. God told us that He sends messengers; He told us that Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, etc. were His messengers. Therefore, we must believe God, and we must believe in His messengers (2:285). God told us that there is a devil named Satan, and we must believe God.
God told us in 33:40 that Muhammad was the last prophet, a message-bearing messenger (Nabi),but not the last messenger (Rasool).Therefore, we must believe God - we must know that Muhammad was not the last messenger.
Specifically, God told us in 3:81 that a messenger will be sent after all the prophets have delivered all the scriptures. This messenger, God's Messenger of the Covenant, is to consolidate the missions of all the prophets into one message, and unify all believers under the banner of worshiping God ALONE and upholding the word of God ALONE, not the words of humans.
If we truly believe in God, we will believe what He says and, therefore, we will believe in God's Messenger of the Covenant. In fact, God tells us in no uncertain terms that those who do not believe that God's Messenger of the Covenant will come after Muhammad do not belong with the believers, and are no longer Muslims (3:81-85). In 49:14 we see that the true believers are those who "believe in God and His messenger, and harbor no doubts."
What does this messenger look like? What are his qualifications? Is he a superhuman with wings? God's messengers, we are told in the Quran, are humans like you and me (5:75, 14:11, 18:110, 21:8, 25:7, 25:20, 41:6)
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It is a mercy from God that we do not have to speculate or guess. God has spelled out the name of His Messenger of the Covenant as "Rashad Khalifa." And God's evidence is not subtle at all. As detailed in Appendix 2 of my new translation, the evidence is overwhelming that Rashad Khalifa is the messenger.
Why the Announcement?
Announcing my messengership was not my idea; it was a command from Almighty God. For eight years, I had maintained the same views as those who believe that an announcement was not necessary. I used to think: Why is the announcement necessary? Why not preach the word of God, uphold the word of God ALONE, and preach the worship of God ALONE, without announcing anything about the messengership? In those days of ignorance, I resisted making such an announcement. Finally, I was told that I was too coward to carry out the duties of God's messenger. I was fired. It took a whole night of repenting, crying, apologizing, and pledging. When I reached a solid conviction that I must make the announcement, even at the cost of losing my own children and my best friends, I was restored. The following night, I spoke with my daughter during the pre-dawn meal of a Ramadan night, and I was trying to be as diplomatic as I could be. My daughter interrupted, "What are you trying to say, Dad? I knew all along that you are God's messenger." I received the same response from all the believers around me. They had known me for a long time, and they knew that I was not a crazy man. They realized that a person who lies about God or claims messengership falsely has to be a person who does nor believe in God or the Hereafter; a person who does not expect to stand before God on the Day of Judgment to answer for his actions.
The announcement played a crucial role in distinguishing the true believers from those who
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have another god besides God. We learn from 45:23 that the ego is the god of many people. It is the ego that prevents people from believing God and heeding His teachings. It is the ego that prevents people from accepting another human being as God's messenger (6:8-9, 11:27, 17:94, 23:34, 38:4, 54:24).The announcement was necessary to sift away those who worship their egos instead of God. It was necessary to sift away those who say with their lips that they are believers, while doubting or rejecting God's evidence that Rashad Khalifa is God's Messenger of the Covenant.
Finally, we must reflect on verses 57:13-14: “The hypocrite men and women will tell the believers on the Day of Judgment, 'Were we not with you?' The believers will say, 'Yes, but you deceived yourselves, you waited and lingered too long, you harbored doubts, and you were deceived by wishful thinking (lip Service).'”
Suppose you become ill and you go to a person for advice, and he or she gives you some medicine. If this happens a few times, you will begin to trust that person as a doctor. But you will continue to harbor doubts and worries about your doctor, unless he makes an announcement that he is a qualified physician, with an official certificate. Similarly, an announcement of messengership assures the believers that they are not falling victims to some charlatan; they will be assured that they are following God's guidance through His proven and declared messenger.
How to Overcome the Doubt?
Ask the 3 crucial questions:
1. Does he advocate worshiping God ALONE?
2. Does he have a God-given proof?
3. Is he making any money from this? |