Dajjal (Anti-Christ), the Qur’an and the Beginning of History
How can the Divine Ruh be bestowed on all and
sundry when we are the Chosen People of the Lord-God?
We tried the patience of the readers in offering the above explanation of the subject of the Ruh, in order that they might understand the question that must now be asked: How could it be possible that Allah Most Wise could choose a people as His chosen people with a status far superior to all the rest of mankind, and then bestow this supreme Divine gift of the Ruh to all of mankind while making no distinction between the so-called chosen people and the rest of mankind?
The Rabbis were convinced that such was not possible, and they wanted to know whether Nabi Muhammad ṣallā -llāhu taʿālā ʿalayhī wa-sallam would confirm it; and that is why they asked the third of three questions: Ask him about the Ruh? (See my book entitled Surah al Kahf and the Modern Age p. 91).
A study of the subject in the Qur’an indicates that at no time did Allah Most High ever declare that the Divine Ruh was breathed into only the Israelite people, to the exclusion of all other human beings. Rather, all human beings possess the Divine Ruh within them. However, when the Divinely-revealed answer to that third question was sent down in the Qur’an, it was humiliatingly curt, and it must have left the world of Jewish scholarship in a state of agony and frustration:
(Qur’an, al-Isra’, 17:85)
And they, the Jews, question you Oh Muhammad, about the Ruh. Say to them in reply that the Ruh is by Allah’s command, and you, the Jews, have been granted but little knowledge of this subject.
This revelation was sent down while the Prophet was still in Makkah, i.e., prior to the Hijrah or migration to Yathrib. It represented the initial response in the Qur’an to the questions posed by the Rabbis. Subsequent revelations which came down after the Hijrah to Yathrib, delivered more information of the subject. The Qur’an went on to inform us, for example, that Allah Most High not only created every human being at the dawn of creation, and breathed into each of them of His Divine Ruh, but also endowed them with the capacity to recognize Him as their Lord-God:
After having disclosed all of the above (perhaps for the first time in a divinely-revealed Book that could be read by all, rather than by a select few) the Qur’an then proceeded to deliver the coup-de-grace in demolishing the claim of a so-called chosen people to have a special status with the Lord-God to the exclusion of the rest of mankind. It did so when it declared that Allah Most High honored all the progeny of Adam ʿalayhi as-salām, hence all of mankind (without exception—and this includes the Africans who were enslaved by the West, and the native Indians who were to be robbed of their land, in order for bright and shining America to be established in that land) were honored, and that they had all thereby been raised to a status above most of Allah’s creation. Here is the declaration honoring all human-beings:
(Qur’an, al-Isra’, 17:70)
Now, indeed, Allah Most High has conferred honor and dignity on the progeny of Adam, hence all of mankind without exception, and borne them over land and sea, and provided for them sustenance out of the good things of life, and favored them far above most of His creation.
The honor that was bestowed on all of mankind had to be the Ruh which was breathed into every human being. This had to be so since it was after Adam ʿalayhi as-salām had received that divine gift that the Angels were ordered to prostrate (in honor and in respect) before him. This subject is explained in greater detail in the chapter which follows.
Before we proceed further with this discussion however, it is interesting to observe the remarkable similarity which has existed between this Jewish claim to be the chosen people of the Lord-God, and hence their preoccupation with the subject of whether non-Jews possessed a Divine Ruh, and a modern western civilization which emerged in history with the jingoistic agenda of civilizing non-European humanity. When the West declared its manifest destiny in waging wars of continuous territorial expansion (and military dominance) which continue to this day, and in dragging all mankind into an age which they described as one of unprecedented progress, democracy and freedom, their undeclared belief which explained that manifest destiny was that they were the chosen people of the Lord-God.
While Popes in Rome issued (infallible) ‘Bulls’ concerning the possession of a soul by American Indians (and Africans) and then revoked them, the enslavement of Africans in the western slave trade flourished because of the general western Christian belief that slavery was religiously permitted since the slaves were not truly human beings. They did not possess the divinely-bestowed Ruh or spirit which made them truly human. Not only was it permissible to enslave the Africans and sell them to plantation-owners in the Americas, but it was similarly permissible to enslave the American Indians since they, also, did not possess a Ruh. In addition, since the divine Ruh was conferred on Adam, who was male, there were many who believed that women did not have a Ruh or soul.
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