The Arabic word ‘qātil’ which means ‘fight’ or ‘kill’ is mentioned in the Quran 170 times. Here are all the Quranic verses where it is mentioned.
Three of the verses actually deal with killing or hunting wild animals. One of them deals with David killing Goliath. 23 of the verses deal with murders and killing incidents during the time of Moses. 16 of them deal with disbelievers killing or fighting the prophets. 23 of them deal with disbelievers killing or fighting the believers. Six of them deal with disbelievers killing their own children. Seven of them mention the fact that disbelievers are cursed. 21 of them talk about people who do not wish to fight. Two of them talk about disbelievers fighting each other. 14 of them talk specifically about the prohibition of killing. 9 of them talk about battles specifically during Muhammad’s time. 7 of them talk about the rewards of fighting in the cause of God. 38 of them are orders to fight or kill disbelievers under strict conditions.
So, now let’s look at these last 38 cases of the word ‘qātil (fight or kill)’ refer to BELIEVERS FIGHTING DISBELIEVERS. All of these 38 cases without exception come with conditions attached to them.
Below is a list of those verses, and all the conditions:
So, looking at all these 38 cases, we can not find a single verse in the Quran which orders the believers to fight the disbelievers simply because they have a different belief system. Someone might say, “yes, but you only looked at the word “qatil” (fight), and you did not look at the popular word “jihad’ (strive).” So let’s look at the word ‘jihad’ as well.
The word ‘jihad’ is mentioned in the Quran 41 times, and it actually means ‘to strive’ or ‘to keep trying’ or ‘to not give up’, it does not mean ‘to kill’. Here are all those 41 cases:
From all the 41 cases above, only 4 of them actually talk about ‘striving’ against the disbelievers. And those cases are in verse 9:73, 25:52, 25:52, and 66:9. Two of those cases are specifically about the time of Prophet Muhammad (9:73, 66:9), who was already being unjustly abused by disbelievers, and the two other cases are both in verse 25:52, which says:
“Therefore, do not obey the disbelievers, and strive (jihad) against them with this (Quran), a great striving.” (25:52)
So, this is the only verse in the Quran which orders the believers to do ‘jihad’ (strive) against the disbelievers, and what it is really saying is that ‘jihad’ against disbelievers is done by reciting or preaching the Quran.
Summary:
Fighting (qatil) against disbelievers is only allowed for self-defense.
There is no such thing as Jihad (proactive striving) against disbelievers, except for preaching the Quran to them.
And here are two crucial verses which prove this conclusion:
“There shall be no compulsion in religion: the right way is now distinct from the wrong way. … “ (2:256)
“Had your Lord willed, all the people on earth would have believed. Do you want to force the people to become believers?” (10:99)
An atheist television personality once said that given the immense size of the universe, and the extremely large number of stars, there must be aliens out there, and if there are no aliens and all these stars and all this space was only intended for humans, then God must be terribly inefficient. Why didn’t God simply create the Solar System, and that is enough space and material to test the humans? Or why did God not create only our galaxy? All the 5000 stars which we can see with our naked eye are within our galaxy anyway. So why did God create the billion trillion other stars, and all that vast interstellar space, if it is not of any use to humans? Well, in fact, there is a perfectly good reason for an extremely vast amount of space outside of our reach, and an extremely large number of stars outside of our use. And that reason becomes obvious once you realize what will happen with all those stars. All that material, a billion trillion stars will be piled together and be used as fuel for permanent Hell. It will ignite under its own weight. It will be jammed in a tight space, as small as the core of the earth, causing a nuclear reaction, and its nuclear fire will burn the disbelievers, and that famous atheist. Not even an atom will go to waste, and not even an inch of space will go unused. Everything which God created has its final purpose. All that mass in the universe is being prepared as a fuel for Hell and disbelievers will burn in it. Someone might still try to argue that this manner of punishment is again inefficient.
Why is so much fuel needed to punish the disbelievers, when a small fire would also do the job? Burning is burning. Yes, but the fuel which will be burned in Hell will be used as an energy source for a perpetual motion giant machine to run the pipes which move the rivers underneath Heaven, and Heaven is big, so you need a lot of energy. See, God is so efficient, that he sets up the system in such a way that He lets Hell do the dirty work for Him. God is holy. “Holy” literary means “untouchable”. A king does not need to get his hands dirty. God does things through angels, and in the Hereafter, He will set up a perfect system where the material of this world will be used as a nuclear fuel for Hell, and the fuel of Hell will produce energy, and the energy will be used to maintain Heaven – for example, to water the permanent gardens and so on. They will be watered from underneath, not like in this world where they are watered by rain from above. And God’s system will be so perfect in the Hereafter, it will never fail – a perpetual system – an effortless system – an efficient system – where nothing goes to waste. Compare this with the most efficient power plant built today by humans, which is only 62% efficient. The rest of the energy is wasted through leaked heat, lost in the grid and so on.
God is the most efficient king. He is the King of efficiency. By the way, the size of Hell compared to Heaven is like the size of a small battery compared to our universe, and I am actually underestimating the difference. If God did not tell the people of Heaven where Hell is, they would not even find it. It is so small compared to Heaven, that space in the Hereafter will practically be all Heaven, and a tiny isolated speck somewhere will be Hell. It will actually be the size of Earth’s Core, which is nothing compared to Heaven. Nothing. Can you see how efficient God’s system is? Can you imagine powering the whole earth forever with energy with a power plant as small as a battery?
So, the typical idea of people who imagine the hereafter as half heaven and half hell is enormously wrong and distorted. Hell is so small compared to heaven, it is practically Heaven’s garbage can, even though it will contain the material of all the stars today.
Someone might say,” That still seems inefficient, because all the material of the universe is surely enough to fuel Hell, why would you need the tiny humans as additional material for burning? Well, where would you put them? Everywhere else you can possibly live in the next world will be Heaven, and it’s not right to put the bad people in Heaven because they are rebels and will cause trouble and inefficiencies. God runs things efficiently. So, bad people are not fit for Heaven, because they cause inefficiencies constantly.
Then why not create just a tiny separate Heaven somewhere close to Hell, just a small city where disbelievers would not burn, and let the rest of the material burn for fuel in Hell? Well that tiny city would again need to be maintained, because bad people are so bad, they will turn it into Hell again in one day, unless God maintains it and fixes it constantly, and the maintaining of it would cause the angels just as much hardship as the hardship which would be relieved for disbeliever. So, why bother, and why would God waste efforts to maintain something which would be constantly destroyed? That would be inefficient for God.
Then, why not send those disbelievers back to earth, to give them another chance? Well, they would do the same thing again. It would be inefficient to try once more. People who were given more than 14,000 thousand chances, practically every day of their life, they went to sleep, they woke up, still disbelievers. They went to sleep, they woke up, still disbelievers. More than 14,000 times, still disbelievers, and one more is not going to change it. God would not send them to Hell, unless it was proven that under any circumstances, they are disbelievers deep in their core.
Then why not give them pain killers or some way for them to avoid the pain while in Hell? Well, that’s still inefficient. How are you going to distribute pain killers in Hell? God can send the angels to do it, but that would require efforts by the angles, and it would not be right for God to help the evil beings at the expense of good beings. And, if you left the disbelievers to distribute it on their own, they would not do it properly. The guy near the entrance door would try to take them all by himself or whatever and the pills would burn. They never do the right thing, especially in circumstances where it matters. But more importantly the disbelievers are supposed to feel pain, because God has promised to make the truth prevail. Everything in the hereafter will say the truth, and the only thing the disbelievers accept as true is pain. If you ask them, “does it hurt?”, they will say “oh, yes it hurts,” and so finally they will speak the truth and the truth shall prevail and falsehood will vanish. This has been the purpose since the beginning – to make the truth prevail over falsehood, and if the disbelievers are going to speak the truth only regarding their pain, then it will be so. The truth will ultimately prevail, which is the purpose of existence.
Then why not simply vanish them? Well, when God created us, he created us to be permanent souls. He promised us that we would last forever, and he is not going to break his promise. God does not break is promise. He created us with his word, and his word is true and truth lasts forever, which means that we, the true us, the souls will last forever.
You might say, “then why did God create disbelievers in the first place, knowing that they will end up in Hell?” Well, this question leaves a very important part without mentioning. It fails to mention that the disbelievers deserve it. See, when God created disbelievers who He knew will end up in Hell, He without exception made sure that He created them such that they would definitely eventually deserve to be in Hell. So, they are so bad that they definitely deserve it. So, then why did God create disbelievers who will eventually deserve to be in Hell? Well, the truth is that He did not create them as disbelievers initially. He created humans. He simply made the souls at different levels of strength which are not necessarily bad or good. They are just different strengths. Only when the body was created as an additional vehicle for humans, if the soul was weaker than the body, that was bad, because when the body leads the soul, it causes it to do bad things.
Then why did God create the body? He created the body to test Satan, because Satan wanted to see if he could also be a god on earth and God created the bodies to give Satan some material over which he could rule, and to see if he can be a god, and we see from all the suffering on earth that Satan is not an efficient god.
Then, why did God create Satan? Well, God did not really create Satan. He created Iblis (Lucifer), who later willingly became bad and therefore Satan.
Then why did God create Lucifer, knowing that he will become Satan. He created Lucifer because when you take everything into account, a version of the world with Lucifer in it, in the end is better than a version of the world without Lucifer in it. In other words, God, the All-Knowing, knew of all the possible versions that the world could exist, and He chose the best of all possible versions, because God is efficient. So, when it is all said and done, we will realize that it is impossible, even in theory, to have a world unfold which is better than the version which God created. Someone might say, “Yes, it is possible in theory to have a world better than this one. For example, if this world had one more moral person in it.” Well, no, in this perfect version of the world people go through a testing process against each other and there must be exactly ten disbelievers who are being tested for every believer who is being tested to keep the struggle in balance. Otherwise, one party would have won a long time ago, and the world would have ended. But, it is feature of a perfect world that 100 organized believers can defeat 1000 disbelievers, because of their better coordination and willingness to give up their wealth. So, a world with one more moral person would need ten more immoral people, and therefore it would only be more overcrowded than the actual version of the world, and therefore less perfect. So, a world like this one, with evil and hell allowed in it, in the end is the best of all possible worlds.
You might say, “How can it be that a world with Hell is ultimately in total better than a world without Hell?” Well, a world without Hell is a world where God constantly provides and the creatures consume, while a world with Hell is a world where God provides in addition to the automatic provision mode powered by the burning in Hell, which is used as additional energy for heaven. So, hell is heaven’s stove. Is a room with a stove and an invisible garbage bin better or a room without either of them? So, God allowed us to make a mistake and leave heaven so that when we go back there it will be updated and boosted up, at least twice as good as when we left. So, God wanted to multiply our happiness, because He love us. So, yes, Satan is being used, but rightfully so, because he is fool and thinks that he is using us, and he deserves nothing less or more than what he will get. See, Satan is hoping that by convincing enough humans to side with him, knowing that God loves us, will convince God to change His mind and give Satan part of His kingdom. Well, what Satan does not understand is that just because God loves us, it does not mean that He needs us. He loves us because He is love, and He has a lot of love to give, but not because He needs us. While Satan who has no love inside, confuses love with need. So, God never needed us, but Satan’s misuses of God’s love fell right into God’s perfect plan for a world with merit based happiness. So, in a world without Satan, angels have to work, so that people can live, which is not merit based, but in a world with Satan, angels have to work only for a brief period, only when we are in this world, and when we get to the next world, both we and angels will be completely free to worship God. So, is a world where it is harder for angels, and harder for people better, or a world which is completely effortless for the angels, and completely effortless for the people, but hard for a small group of bad creatures who deserve it anyway? So, not only God chose the best of all possible versions of the world to create, it is also the easiest option for all of us. So, God has created a version of the world which in the end will have the maximum total happiness for his creatures with the same efforts.
Of course, God does not need Hell as a fuel source for Heaven. We know this, because he is providing for people in Heaven right now, without using Hell as a source of energy, but He is so efficient, that in the Hereafter, if He can use the fuel of Hell for useful purposes, then why not? He is efficient. He does not waste anything. Everything He creates has a specific purpose.
Someone might say, “then why did God have to create anything at all?” Well, He is the Creator. His name is the Creator. That’s what He does. Someone depressed philosopher might then say, “If that’s how it has to be, then why should God exist?” Well, why shouldn’t He exist, if He is:
the Greatest
the Peace
the Infinite
the Initiator
the Efficient
the Lord of everything
the Shaper
the Outermost
the Provider
the Giver of Life
the Innermost
the Repeater
the Nurturer
the Almighty
the Omniscient (all-knowledgeable)
the Supreme
the Hearer
the Ultimate Inheritor
the Absolute
the Seer
the Resurrector
the Truth
the Respiter
the Gatherer
the Eternal
the Gracious
the Accounter
the Highest
the Merciful
the Witness
the King
the Forgiver
the Just
the Glorious
the Guide
the Judge
the Honorable
the Faithful
the Avenger
the Praiseworthy
the Grateful
the Holy (the untouchable)
the Dignifier
the One in Charge
the Light of the world
the Responsive
the Independent
the Protector
the One
the Living
the Redeemer
God
The only one who has reason to exist is God. No other being has sufficient reason to exist, except to worship God. So, our only sufficient reason to exist is to worship God. And God, who is the Most Powerful, does not chose to do things in the hard way, because he is also the Most Wise, so if he can do the same exact thing in an easier way, He will do it. He is efficient. He created this world in the most efficient manner, to get the maximum results with the least amount of efforts. If it is more efficient to create an electron, and then copy and paste it, then that is what He did. No wonder all the electrons are the same. If it is more efficient to create the Helium out of Hydrogen rather than from nothing, than that is what He did. If it is more efficient to create the planets from the remnants of stars, rather than from nothing, then that is what He did. If it is more efficient to produce the Dog from the Wolf, rather than from scratch, then that is what He did. If it is more efficient to clone Eve from Adam, rather than creating her from scratch, then that is what He did. If it is more efficient to create you from your parent, rather than from nothing, then that is what He did. If it is more efficient to produce milk from the cow, rather than constantly sending it to us from the sky, then that is what He did. So, yes the impression of evolution is simply people noticing signs of God’s efficiency. Someone might say, isn’t it more efficient to produce the human from the monkey because their genes are mostly similar? Well, in this case it is not because of some specific factors, but that is another topic which I explain in another video. But, the point which I am making here is that God creates, forms, judges and provides for his creatures in the most efficient way. He even guides and saves in the most efficient way. Here is how efficient his redemption system is. All you have to do is believe what He says. It takes less efforts to believe than to doubt. Instead, you are making things harder for yourself, if you do not believe God. If you are against God, God will not let you touch his efficient system. His system is perfect, and if you do not believe, you will be:
Defeated
You will have no property, no belongings, no smartphone
You will not be able to distract your mind away from reality
The truth will hit you
You will submit
Deprived of everything you longed for
All your secrets will become known
You will be blamed
Ridden with remorse and sorrow
Despised
Humiliated
Shamed
You did this to yourself
Shame on you
Go to Hell,
and stay in it.
Your final destiny
Your only destiny
Your unavoidable destiny
The worst destiny
Your idols can not help you
Your parents can not help you
Your children can not help you
Your friends can not help you
Your money can not help you
You will have no helpers
You can not help yourself
You will have no power
You will have no escape
No ransom will be accepted from you
No intercession, no nepotism, no trade
You will lose your family, if they go to Heaven
And you will lose your family, if they go to Hell
And you will never see them
You will be chained in shackles
Confined in iron pots
You will eat as food completely bitter stuff, with no other taste
It never nourishes, nor satisfies hunger.
Drink boiling water and sand
And no pain-killers
You will be overwhelmed by fire
You will be owned by fire
Clothed with fire and tar
Hellfire
Retribution
In misery
In pain
In severe pain
In agony
Suffering
Gehenna
Eternal Punishment
The suffering will increasingly get worse
It will start from the worst you ever felt and end with the worst you can possibly feel
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, Most Merciful. We read in the Scripture, the proven word of God, that God is love, that God is peace, that He is the most compassionate, the most merciful. Yet, when we look around us in this world, we see a lot of misery, a lot of war, oppression. The vast majority of people in the world are suffering from poverty, diseases, starvation, cancer. And the question, the inevitable question that arises is why? If God is loving, compassionate, and merciful, as we read in the Scripture, if God is in full control, why do we see all these problems, the earthquakes, the miseries? Why so? As you see, we are dealing with some very heavy material. When we look around us all over the world, we see a lot of misery, a lot of famine, starvation, poverty, accidents, earthquakes, problems, diseases, cancer. The world is full of problems. The vast majority of the world is under dictatorship, oppression, and poverty. So the inevitable question that pops up in our minds, justifiably so, is: If God is full of love and compassion and mercy, why all these problems? Why does God permit this famine, starvation, accidents, and misery? It’s a legitimate question, and this article deals with this question.
In order to answer the question, “Why are we here, and what is the purpose of our lives?” we have to go back in time to where there was God and nothing else.
Then, God created the angels to perform functions where the existence of God is not necessary or simply devastating, as we will learn later on in the article.
The angels had to possess immense powers, and just to give you an idea, today the angels have to travel billions of light years in only a few of our hours. They have to possess immense powers, and God gave the angels immense powers. We have heard in the last few years about questions like, “How many angels can dance on the tip of a pin?”—this kind of silly question—but the exact opposite is true. Just to give you an idea, one angel can hold the planet Earth in one hand. We know these things now after the discovery of the mathematical code and the mathematically proven statements in the scriptures. One of the angels became infatuated with his God-given powers. He had so much power that he thought he could be a god in his own right. That angel’s name was Lucifer, or Satan, or the Devil, or El Diablo. He has many names. Let us call him Satan for the purposes of this article. You can imagine Satan flying in the universe and saying to himself, “I can be a god in my own right. I can rule part of this universe by myself.” That was all in his head, and of course, his fellow angels had no idea what Satan was thinking. But God knew about Satan’s super serious thoughts deep in his head. God knew those thoughts, and there were two alternatives. Either God could simply wipe out Satan, and in this case, the angels would wonder; they would be perplexed. Why did God do this to Satan? Satan didn’t do anything wrong. The other alternative was to expose Satan first. And to do this, God decided to create a tiny, minute creature from a lowly material—mud. You can imagine the size of the human being compared to the size of an angel who can hold the planet Earth in his hand. So God created a tiny creature from mud, then God ordered the angels to bow down before Adam, this tiny creature. They all did, except, you know who, Satan. And thus, Satan was exposed as a rebel. Now, the angels see for themselves that Satan is a rebel who deserves to be banished from God’s kingdom. That was the first reason for creating the human race. It was mercy from God that He decided to expose Satan first by creating the tiny creature from mud, then ordering the angels to fall prostrate, bow down before Adam.
The other reason for creating the human race is a bit more complicated to understand. This second reason, we have to go back to the time when Satan was infatuated with his power and saying, “I can rule part of this universe by myself. I can be a god in my own right.” God said to himself, when he knew about Satan’s super serious thoughts, “Alright, you want to be a god? I will make you a god and see how good you are. There is much more to godhood than you think.” This is what God thought to himself, and this is where the second reason for creating us comes in.
In order to make Satan a god temporarily, God decided to give Satan a dominion and constituents. In order to be a god or a king, you have to have a dominion and constituents. To give Satan a dominion, God went out of his way to show Satan that the dominion God is giving to Satan is really tiny, minute. God created this vast universe, the seven universes that I described to you, and in this vast universe, God told Satan, “I’m giving you this tiny, tiny planet Earth. This is your dominion.” So, now that Satan has his dominion, where will he get his constituents?
That’s right, the human race. God created the human beings and gave them the freedom of choice. God told us, you and me and everyone of us, that if we choose Satan’s kingdom, we belong in Satan’s kingdom, and if we choose God’s kingdom, then we belong in God’s kingdom. Now, this choice depends on siding with Satan’s point of view or God’s point of view. God’s point of view is that God alone is Lord of the universes. He has no partners, no other gods besides Him. This is God’s point of view, and when you agree with this point of view, you will belong in God’s kingdom.
Satan’s point of view, on the other hand, is that God alone is not enough. There can be or there must be another god or gods besides Him, and Satan wanted to be that other god. So the human beings have the freedom of choice, and those among them who side with Satan’s point of view become Satan’s constituents. So now Satan has his dominion, the planet Earth, and his constituents, the human beings who side with his point of view. And Satan is being tested as a god. The results are all around us. Now you know why the famine, the starvation, the misery, the accidents, the cancer.
Satan’s kingdom is plagued with these problems. On the other hand, these problems do not exist in God’s kingdom. When you side with God’s point of view, that is, decide that God alone is Lord of the universes without any other idols in your life, you belong in God’s kingdom. And God’s kingdom has no cancer, no accidents, no headaches, no problems. God’s kingdom is characterized by perfect health, perfect wealth, and perfect peace, perfect happiness.
This might sound unbelievable, but it’s true. God’s kingdom is characterized by perfect health, perfect wealth, perfect happiness, and joy. When you choose God’s point of view, you will belong in God’s kingdom, and you will have no headaches, no problems, no traffic tickets. You will forget what headaches are. You will have no financial problems, no health problems. God runs the universes, and this is His law. If you belong in God’s kingdom, there will be no accidents in your life, no misery, no marital problems, no problems of any kind.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of people have sided with Satan’s point of view that God alone is not enough. They do this by idolizing, setting up idols like Muhammad or Jesus or Mary or San Francisco or the boss or the dollar. They set up all kinds of idols, and when they do this, they uphold Satan’s point of view, and automatically they become Satan’s constituents.
Don’t get me wrong, Satan is trying very hard to make his kingdom the planet Earth and his constituents the people who choose him and his point of view. He is trying very hard to make his kingdom a perfect kingdom. He wants very badly for his constituents to enjoy perfect health, perfect wealth, and perfect peace and happiness. But he just can’t, and this is the whole idea. Satan is being put to the test with a dominion and constituents, and his incompetence as a god has been proven. And this is the whole idea of our existence.
And here, we are not talking about some kingdom to come after life or something like that, but we are talking about now. You and I. And some of you may ask, “I didn’t want to be in this test. Why am I here involuntarily?” And this is a wrong question because we learn from the scripture that is proven by mathematical code, by physical evidence, to be God’s message to the world. We learn that you and I and every human being was asked whether we want the freedom of choice or not. We met God before the creation of the heavens and the earth, and we bore witness that He alone is our Lord. But this knowledge is obscured with this body. We cannot remember it now. We will remember it when we get rid of this body, this garment, and become free again. What we are talking about here is that every human being, you see, is either a constituent of God or a constituent of Satan. And as said earlier, constituents of God enjoy perfect health, perfect wealth, and perfect happiness and joy now in this world.
Satan’s constituents are plagued with problems: financial, marital, health. They have all kinds of problems. And we have to emphasize that these statements are proven by physical evidence, by the mathematical code of the Quran. It is very important to realize that we are not talking from the top of our head, that this is proven material by physical evidence that anyone can examine and verify. When you are in God’s kingdom, when you side with God’s point of view, that God alone is Lord, without any idols, without Muhammad or Jesus or Mary or the saints or the boss or the dollar, you belong in God’s kingdom, and you enjoy a perfect life.
When you side with Satan’s point of view here in this world, you suffer the consequences. What you see around the world is the consequence of Satan’s incompetence as a god. God gave him this planet Earth and gave us the freedom to choose him and become his constituents.
The scripture tells us that if God wins, He can make all the people believers, which is true. If God wills, He can make all the people on Earth believers. The question is, why doesn’t He? And the answer in the scriptures is, if God made all the people believers, where will Satan get his constituents to prove Satan’s incompetence as a god?
See, we are here to provide Satan with constituents, those among us with our freedom of choice who chooses Satan becomes his constituents. By their choice, this is happening here and now. Any human being you look at belongs either in God’s kingdom or in Satan’s kingdom, whether they know it or not. There is no other choice. You either belong in God’s kingdom or in Satan’s kingdom. How can you tell?
If you have any problems whatsoever – if you have headaches, financial problems, health problems, marital problems, any kind of problems – this will be your hint that you have made the choice to side with Satan’s kingdom. Somehow, you will have to examine your own life.
That is the difference between Satan’s kingdom and God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is characterized by perfect health, perfect wealth, and peace of mind.
If you look into your life and find that your life is full of problems or has some problems, if you come to the conclusion that you have been victimized by Satan or duped by Satan into joining his kingdom, what is the way out? How can you join God’s kingdom? How can I join God’s kingdom? This is a very easy matter. At the same time, it is not so easy for the reasons that I’m going to explain to you.
First of all, you have to come to a solid, unshakable conclusion that God alone is the Lord of the universe, that no one besides God can help you or harm you. You have to come to this solid conclusion. So let us say you claim that you came to this conclusion, that you believe that God alone is the Lord of the universe. The scripture tells us in the Quran, Chapter 29, Verse 2. I’m going to quote it now: “Do the people think that they will be left to say, ‘We believe,’ without being put to the test? We will surely put them to the test to distinguish those who are telling the truth from the liars.”
Therefore, when you make this claim that you believe that God alone is the Lord of the universe, you will have to be put to the test to show that you’re not just offering lip service, that this is a deep, solid, unshakable conviction.
We read in the Bible that Job was put to the test. Satan inflicted a lot of harm upon Job, and this is my chance to tell you that any problems, any diseases, any accidents, any misery, is inflicted only by Satan. God does not inflict any harm on His creation.
There are four kinds of disasters. The first kind is the admission tests. What I call admission tests when you or I claim that we believe that God alone is Lord of the universe without any idols, we must be put to the test. These admission tests are designed to show that we uphold this conviction solidly, unshakably, under all circumstances—rich or poor, health or sickness. Admission tests are characterized by the fact that they do not leave permanent damage. They test you thoroughly, and then you are admitted into God’s kingdom. That is the first kind of disaster.
The second kind of disaster is called an educational disaster. This is designed to bring us back into God’s kingdom if we sway out of God’s kingdom, if we make a mistake and step out of God’s kingdom. This is exactly what happens: you step out of God’s kingdom, and Satan captures you, smites you, gives you a problem, a disaster, and this will be your attention-getter. You will be alerted that you have stepped out of God’s kingdom, and you will come back fast. That is called an educational disaster. And as you see, admission tests and educational disasters are inflicted by Satan.
The third kind is called blessings in disguise, and these appear to be disasters. But when they are passed, you look back on them and you discover that they were actually good for you. You go apply for a job or something, and you don’t get it. You flunk in the interview, and you’re very upset because you wanted that job. But later on, you discover that with time, you obtained a better job, and that had you succeeded in getting that job, it would have been much worse for you. So that is a blessing in disguise.
The fourth kind of disaster is retributive disaster, and it happens when a society or an individual reaches the point of corruption where there is no reform, the point of no reform. A good example in the Bible and the Quran, in the scriptures, is Sodom and Gomorrah. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were corrupted beyond reform. They became hopelessly trapped in their corruption, and God decided to inflict the retributive disaster that they deserved. And this is the only kind that you may attribute to God, but actually, it is the end of their life. It was the final blow, and death is a fact of life, as you know—everyone dies. So it is not really a disaster since it is the final act. Death is a fact of life; we all die, and that is not a disaster. So these are the four kinds of disasters.
You might have heard a story that was told by a famous preacher about two men. One believed in God, and the other did not. The man who believed in God was telling his friend, “Well, listen, if you don’t believe in God, then if there is a day of judgment, you will be in deep trouble. But if you believe in God and there is no day of judgment and there is no God, you’ve got nothing to lose.” Now, this argument, the preacher said, makes sense. It makes sense that you believe in God. But actually, it doesn’t quite work like that. You cannot believe in God just in case there is a God. The only way is to reach deep, solid, unshakable conviction about God—not only that God exists but also that God is the only Lord of the universe, that there is no idol, no other God besides Him. And as I told you, it is very easy to make the switch from Satan’s kingdom to God’s kingdom. All you need to do is to reach this deep conviction. You have many years to study, look around, research, think, reflect, and make a decision. And if you are fortunate to make a decision to join God’s kingdom by believing that God alone is Lord of the universe, then you would be put to the test to show that you mean it, that it is not only lip service or just in case, as in that story.
Your decision to join God’s Kingdom, based on deep, unshakable conviction, must be accompanied by repentance and remorse for the wrong things you have done in the past. You simply say to God, “I’m sorry I did those things. I am sorry I did not side with Your point of view. That I fell into idol worship. I committed certain sins. I will never do them again. I repent to You.” This repentance wipes out all your sins; you become like a newborn baby, no sins whatsoever. Better yet, we learn from the Scripture that all your sins of the past will be transformed into credits. And credits mean growth, development, and strengthening of your soul. So, on the day of judgment, you will be strong and able to withstand the energy of God, being close to God Himself.
A lot of people ask the question, “Why are the children suffering? Why are the innocent children suffering?” In the last few years, we have been watching in our living rooms, on the TV, children starving and dying in Africa.
And a lot of people are justified in asking, “Why are the children suffering?” It is very important to point out that when we side with Satan’s point of view, we move ourselves and our families out of God’s Kingdom into Satan’s Kingdom. We and our families become constituents in Satan’s Kingdom and subject to Satan’s incompetence as a temporary god. This is why the children are suffering. On the other hand, the suffering and death of those children is actually a blessing in disguise. When we study the Scripture carefully, we realize that these children are going straight to Heaven, and it is indeed a blessing for them. They actually do not die; they move on from this life to a much better life. The chances of those children growing up and making the right choice, siding with God’s point of view, the chance is very nil that they will do that. And it is far better for those children to die now and go to Heaven than to suffer for a long time and then end up not making it and ending up in an eternal Hell.
This brings us to a very important issue: the unforgivable sin. At the end of our term in this world, at the time of death, murder is forgivable, adultery is forgivable, stealing is forgivable, lying, cheating, all these are forgivable sins. There is only one unforgivable sin when maintained until the time of death. This one unforgivable sin is idol worship.
We fully appreciate now why idol worship is the only unforgivable offense. Because now we realize that the whole idea behind our existence, the whole idea behind creating us, is to provide Satan with the constituents who agree with his point of view, that God alone is not enough, that there can be other gods, other idols besides God. The grossness of idol worship can be appreciated when you remind yourself that the planet Earth is 93 million miles from the Sun, and it takes light only a few minutes to reach us from the Sun? But from the edge of our galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy, the light takes not minutes, not days, not years, not centuries. It takes thirty thousand years for the light to travel from the planet Earth to the edge of our galaxy, the Milky Way Galaxy. Can you imagine how tiny the planet Earth is in the Milky Way Galaxy? Andmour universe contains 1 billion galaxies like the Milky Way, and distances up to 26 billion light years. So, where is the planet Earth in our universe? It is almost nothing. And our universe is one of seven universes. The other six are much larger universes, if you can imagine that. So, the planet Earth is terribly insignificant. Now, on this tiny, insignificant planet Earth, a man named Muhammad walked for 63 years. All his life, from birth to death, was 63 years. On this tiny, insignificant planet Earth, there was this human being, Muhammad, and millions of people around the world idolize him against his will. Can you imagine the grossness of this idol worship? On this tiny, minute, insignificant planet Earth, a man named Jesus, a creature of God, walked on the Earth for 33 years. So, how significant is he? How significant is Muhammad? And you can imagine, you can appreciate the grossness of idol worship when people idolize creatures of God like Muhammad or Jesus or Mary or the saints who walked on this Earth for a limited period of time. And this planet Earth, as you see, the whole planet Earth is terribly insignificant. So now, with the study of the Scriptures and the physical evidence supporting it, we come to appreciate that the only unforgivable offense is idol worship. God is holding the seven universes in His hand, and we see now that our purpose in life, to be successful, is to side with God’s point of view, that He alone is enough. God describes His greatness in the Scriptures for us to appreciate God and to see that He alone is Lord. And we, and to see and appreciate the grossness of idolizing anyone else. The definition of idol worship, by the way, is that if you believe that anyone other than the one who created you can benefit you, then you have fallen into idol worship. This is the definition of idol worship. If you believe that anyone other than the one true God, the one, the specific one who created you, if you believe that anyone other than God can benefit you, then you have fallen into idol worship.
It’s a well-established fact by now that if you live in Europe, Mecca is towards South-East. In Asia, Mecca is towards South-West, or West. In Australia and the islands around it, Mecca is towards North-West; in sub-Saharan Africa, Mecca is towards North-East; and in North Africa Mecca is towards East or slightly South of East; in South America, Mecca is towards North-East. And people agree about these regardless of the type of map they use – whether they use a flat map, or a globe.
But when it comes to the continent of North-America, people do not agree anymore.
Those who use a flat map say that Mecca is towards the South-East,
and those who use a globe say that Mecca is towards the North-East.
So who is right?
Here are the arguments for both sides first:
Those who like to follow North-East, say that this is the shortest distance between North America and Mecca, and therefore this mus be the direction. However, there is a drawback to this argument, because this direction starts as North-East, but it eventually turns into South-East anyway.
On the other hand, those who like to follow South-East say that this is constantly South-East, and this would be a direction which is constantly the same relative to the stars. However, there is a drawback to this argument as well, because this is not really the shortest distance, and a direction is supposed to be the shortest distance between two points.
So, as you can see, both sides have arguments pro and against. This means that they don’t have enough arguments – they don’t have conclusive arguments. And when arguments are not enough, we need guidance (6:77, 27:63), and that is why God sends messengers (2:150-151, 49:7, 65:11). And, the guidance is in the Quran (27:77, 41:44).
The Quran never directly orders the believers to face Mecca, or Kaaba, per se (5:95, 5:97, 48:24, 3:96); it only orders us to face the Sacred Masjid (2:144, 2:149, 2:150). And there is a difference between these. The difference is that Mecca is the City (48:24), Kaaba is the cube shaped building (5:95, 5:97), and the Sacred Masjid is the ground underneath that building. So even if destroy Kaaba and Mecca, the Sacred Masjid would still be there. So, since the Sacred Masjid is the ground underneath Kaaba, if we go one meter underneath the ground, would it still be a sacred masjid? Of course. If you go two meters underneath the ground, would it still be a Sacred Masjid? Of course. If we go ten meters underneath the ground, would it still be a Sacred Masjid? Of course. If we go one mile underneath Kaaba, would it still be a Sacred Masjid? Of course. And if we go all the way to the center of the Earth, would it still be the Sacred Masjid? Of course. This means that the center of the earth is part of the Sacred Masjid. And, if we turn towards the center of the Earth, that means that we would turn towards the Sacred Masjid, and that’s what we do when we do the Contact Prayers. When we do the Contact Prayers, we bow down, and we prostrate, and at both times we are facing the center of the Earth (2:144). So, if you do the Contact Prayers, in each case you are facing the Sacred Masjid, regardless if you are turning East, or West, or North or South – it does not matter (2:177).
When you do the Contact Prayer, you are facing the Sacred Masjid.
So, it really does not matter which way you turn. All directions belong to God (2:142, 2:177, 2:115, 73:9). And this matter of turning towards the North-East or the South-East has nothing to do with righteousness (2:177, 2:142). It’s so not important, that it is not even religion – it’s geography.
Let’s emphasize the issue even more: The Contact Prayers are like money, with which you can buy heavenly food (2:277, 7:170), and whether you pay with them with the bill facing up or with the bill facing down, it really does not matter. The bill has the same value, face up, or face down. And you can even fold it, and it still has the same value. And the case of North America is like folded money. Part of it is facing down, and part of it is facing up, but it still has the same value. So, in the case of North America, part of the Qiblah is North-East, and part of the Qiblah is South-East; but it still has the same value. God will not waste your Contact Prayers, because of the direction which you are following (2:143).
So, if the Contact Prayers have the same value, regardless of the direction you turn, then why would God tell us to face the Sacred Masjid? Well, it’s simply to distinguish those who follow the messenger, from those who do not (2:143). And this is why the very definition of the word “Qiblah” in the Quran is ‘the direction with which the messenger is pleased with’ (2:144). So, it’s simply a matter of preference – whichever way the messenger like (2:144), and it has nothing to do with right and wrong (2:177).
Therefore, it’s not even theoretically possible for God’s messenger to misguide you in this issue, because this matter has nothing to do with right and wrong. It’s simply a matter of taste – whether you like what the messenger (chooses) likes (2:144). And this finally brings us to the question. What does the messenger like? Does the messenger like Qiblah to be North-East for the United States and Canada, or does the messenger Qiblah to be South-East for the United States and Canada? And here is what Clarifying Mesenger, Alban Fejza, chooses:
Instead of giving you directions, he gives us the liberty (4:28) – Liberty, by informing us that what he likes for Qiblah for the United States and Canada is the whole range of directions from North-East to South-East (2:148).
He likes them all. This means that from Alaska, Qiblah is the whole range of directions between North and South-West. The rest of the world might say, ‘Wait a minute! Why do American get a chance to choose from a range of directions, while we have to follow a more specific direction. Is it fair? Yes it is, because, the rest of the world had the privilege to build mosques before building roads, and this gave the rest of the world the opportunity to adjust the roads according to the mosques, while Americans have built roads before building mosques, and this is why they are forced to adjust the mosques according to the roads, and according to the urban planning. And of course, this additional flexibility will have to be paid for. For example, North Americans, when they travel to Hajj, they will have a longer distance, and therefore more expensive flight tickets.
So, this whole time, what people might have perceived as confusion and uncertainty about this issue (2:142), was in fact purposeful liberty, and purposeful flexibility from God (2:148).
In cases when someone else is leading the prayer for you, then you just follow them (2:43), because it’s not possible to go wrong in this issue. And when you are praying alone, for example, at work you can choose one direction, because that’s how it suits you (2:148), then you can go home, and pray in another direction, as long as it’s between North-East and South-East for USA and Canada (2:148, 2:144), and let’s say, then you go to the masjid, and pray in another direction (2:43) – it really does not matter (2:177) – you can constantly change your mind, wherever you go. And the whole range of directions between North-East and South-East are correct – all of them (2:142, 2:115, 2:177).
CONCLUSION:
In the USA and Canada, Qiblah is EVERYTHING between North-East and South East (2:145, 2:148) because that the way the messenger likes it
Other directions are also not wrong (2:177), but that’s simply not the way which the messenger likes (2:144).
No wrong Qiblah (2:177, 2:148). IT’S ONLY WRONG TO ARGUE ABOUT IT (2:142).
The tables in the video above show you the Night of Destiny dates during a specific year of our century, for your specific location. The Night of Destiny, or ‘Laylat al-Qadr’ in Arabic, is the night in which the angles and the Spirit descend (97:4), It is the night in which the Quran was revealed (97:1), and it is also one of the Ramadan nights (2:185). But which Ramadan night exactly? People have speculated about this for centuries (10:36), and now finally God has revealed this information to us – the correct information, and we can extract it from the Quran. Here it is:
In the short chapter which talks about The Night of Destiny, the fifth verse gives it away. It says:
“Peaceful it is until the advent of the dawn.” (97:5)
This is, of course, not talking about peace between, humans – because so many wars and crimes go on right through the night of destiny. This is talking about peace between angels and jinns, as we can see it from other verses in the Quran, and especially from the fourth verse in the same chapter (97:4).
And the jinns who are made of fire (38:76), when they try to cross into our dimension, they are chased by the light of the stars, the light of the sun and the light of the moon (67:5, 72:9), and this is not peace. Peace is when they are not being chased (72:1). Therefore, angels can not make peace with jinns under sunlight and under moonlight. It has to be a night (no sun), and it has to be moonless – a moonless night.
So, in this context, let’s replace the word ‘peace’ with the word ‘moonless’ and here is what we get:
“Moonless it is until the advent of the dawn.” (97:5)
And this sentence now gives us the exact times, the exact dates of the Night of Destiny: Moonless it is, until the advent of the dawn.
So the Night of Destiny is the Ramadan Night which is moonless until the advent of dawn. (97:5), and this means that the moon rises after the beginning of Astronomical Dawn, and this can happen anywhere from the 19th night of Ramadan until the 29th night of Ramadan.
So now that we know it, we can simply look it up in the astronomical almanacs, and we did it for you, and the results are in the tables in the video above. By the way, you can see from those tables that calculations for specific locations in the extreme north or extreme south are not available (n/a), and this is due to the polar night or the polar day or the absence of dawn, and this means that in these regions, the Night of Destiny simply merges together with the rest of the nights, and this means that when the Night of Destiny ends in our locations, it does not really end – it simply retreats towards the North Pole or the South Pole depending on which one of them is in darkness.
However, there is a particular case when it is forced to end, and this happens when it is daylight both at the North Pole and the South Pole, and this is called the Spring Equinox or the Fall Equinox. And this can only happen during the Spring Equinox and the Fall Equinox. A simplified computer simulation can show that this happens after 1025 months sometimes, and after 1640 months at other times, and both these time periods are longer than a thousand months. So, this partly explains the verse which says that the Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months (97:3), It’s because, it is longer than a thousand months.
But of course, at the specific location where you live, it happens only once a year during Ramadan, and the exact dates for your location are in the tables presented in the video above.
°Let’s take year 2095 as an example. Let’s say that you live in London at this time, and you can search “London Latitude”, and you get 51° North, and in the table for the year 2095 in the video you can see that at 51° North, the Night of Destiny starts on the 1st of February which happens to be the 26th Ramadan night, while in Istanbul (41° N) for example, the Night of Destiny starts on the 2nd of February which happens to be the 27th Ramadan night, but in other years it can be in any of the last ten nights of Ramadan (89:2).
This is why the Quran says:
“By the dawn, and the ten nights” (89:1-2), because the moon rises at dawn only in any of the last ten nights of Ramadan. And we finally know the exact night (75:19), because this generation is obsessed with calendars and planning (3:54, 13:42), and God with His mercy decided that since some people are going to plan for it anyway, then at least let them have the correct date (25:13).
Conclusion
The Night of Destiny is the Ramadan night in which the moon rises after Astronomical Dawn for the first time; it is a moonless night until the advent of dawn. (97:5). Therefore, it is predictable with astronomical precision.
The video above shows you the calendar dates in which fasting is possible and the dates in which fasting is not possible for all geographical latitudes, one after another. Fasting is not possible in certain Extreme Norther and Extreme Southern Regions, which happens only at certain times of the year in locations above 49 degrees in Latitude, because of lack of beginning of astronomical dawn or lack of sunset. Both sunset and beginning of astronomical dawn are necessary for fasting, because fasting starts at the beginning of astronomical dawn and ends at sunset. And when one of them is missing, fasting is not possible.
We find instructions about what to do in this situation in the Quran. It says:
“…those of you who witness the month of Ramadan shall fast in it, and those who are ill or IN BRIGHTNESS(safar),fast the same number of other days…” (2:185).
The word “brightness (safar)” is also used in other verses, where it refers to ‘bright faces’ (80:38), and in verse 74:34 where it refers to ‘brightness of the dawn’. In other words, situations when the night is bright, when it does not get completely dark, or continuous twilight (74:34), or as the Nordics call them “white nights”.
The exact astronomical definition of this is “nights in which the sun does not go more than 18° under horizon.”
So, when Ramadan comes, and it is not possible to fast (due to safar – brightness of the dawn), then we simply can not fast. We compensate those missed days after Ramadan, at the earliest possible time of the year, when fasting becomes possible again.
By the way, all kinds of fasting are acceptable to God, even if you are just dieting, losing weight, but here I am talking about fasting like Muhammad, and Abraham, the perfect form of obligatory fasting. So, at certain times of the year in the extreme north and south, you will not be able to fast like Abraham and Muhammad. I am not saying, “Do not do it.” I am saying “It’s not possible to do it”, and God orders us to do it properly, even if it has to be outside the month of Ramadan (2:184-185, 187).
The Quran instructs us that fasting should be done from the beginning of dawn (when the sun is 18° below horizon), until sunset. (2:187).
Another rare situation, which happens only in polar circles, is when sunset is also missing. In those rare cases, you do not even need to compensate the fasting, because those are not full days. You can not have a Quranic day without sunset. I show these dates with dark red in the calendar.
The Quran informs us that fasting is obligatory only on specific days which are specifically prepared for fasting (2:184).
It says, “Prepared days (are designated for fasting)…” (2:184)
Just to drive the point home, let me inform you that the pillars of Submission or Islam or religious rituals include Contact Prayers, Obligatory Charity, Hajj, and Fasting. We do not find Ramadan as pillar of submission anywhere in the Quran. But fasting is obligatory for believers (2:183). It is obligatory during Ramadan when it is possible to fast during Ramadan, and it is obligatory outside of Ramadan when it is only possible to fast outside of Ramadan (2:185).
By the way, the previous prophets also fasted (2:183), but not necessarily during Ramadan. Ramadan only became a mandatory month of fasting when the Quran was revealed (2:185), so that the believers can organize easier (2:185) (i.e. preparing food together, easier spousal relations; I mean, it can be frustrating for a spouse not to know when the other spouse is fasting and out of reach). So, Ramadan is a timetable to help with easier coordination of fasting between people (2:185). However, it is fasting which brings you closer to God (2:183, 33:35), not Ramadan. So, as long as you fast about thirty days per year (inside or outside of Ramadan), you are fulfilling one of the main pillars of submission to God: Fasting.
Dans la vidéo ci-dessus, vous pouvez voir le calendrier du Ramadan le plus précis et le plus concis pour tout le monde habité. La partie inférieure de la vidéo vous présente les dates du premier jour du Ramadan et du dernier jour du Ramadan, chronologiquement, pour ce siècle. Vous pouvez mettre la vidéo en pause à n’importe quelle année. Et la partie supérieure de la vidéo vous montre comment ces dates sont calculées – la méthode de calcul correcte.
La méthode correcte est soulignée parce que le Ramadan commence par une nouvelle lune et se termine par une nouvelle lune, mais les érudits musulmans ne sont pas d’accord sur la définition de la nouvelle lune. Certains disent que « la nouvelle lune se produit quand vous la voyez ». D’autres disent : « il n’est pas possible de le calculer » et d’autres disent que « cela se produit à la conjonction lunaire ». Ils soutiennent ces idées par la tradition, la science mal comprise, l’expérience personnelle ou l’obéissance aveugle, mais ils ne sont pas conscients que nous pouvons trouver la définition exacte de la nouvelle lune dans le Coran. Voici la définition correcte du Coran, chapitre 2, verset 189 ; il est dit :
« Ils t’interrogent sur les nouvelles lunes. Dis : « Ce sont des moments fixés pour les gens et pour le Hadj, et il n’est pas convenable (pour les nouvelles lunes) d’entrer dans les nuits à partir de midi, mais il faut être prudent et entrer dans les nuits à partir du coucher du soleil (de l’entrée de la nuit)… »
Et cette signification spécifique du verset peut être trouvée dans le Coran arabe. Certains traducteurs traduisent les mots « nuit », « midi » et « coucher de soleil » dans ce verset hors contexte comme s’ils parlaient de « maisons », « portes dérobées » et « portes d’entrée », en s’appuyant sur la langue arabe commune. Mais la meilleure norme arabe est le Coran, et nous pouvons l’utiliser pour déduire les significations propres de ces mots à partir d’autres versets où ils sont mentionnés dans le Coran. Nous trouvons ces mots arabes dans d’autres versets du Coran, où le mot « bayatan » signifie en fait « nuit » (4:81, 4:108, 7:4, 7:97, 10:50, 27:49), pas nécessairement « maison » ; et le mot « dhuhr » signifie « midi » (24:58), pas nécessairement « porte dérobée », et le mot « baba » signifie « porte du ciel » (15:14), pas nécessairement « porte de la maison ».
La définition correcte de la nouvelle lune
Ainsi, la définition correcte de la nouvelle lune du verset 2:189 est la lune qui ne vient pas à midi, mais qui vient au coucher du soleil, et qui entre dans la nuit après le coucher du soleil.
Ainsi, la première nuit du Ramadan est la première nuit où la lune se couche après le coucher du soleil, et le jour qui la suit est le premier jour du Ramadan. Et le dernier jour du Ramadan est le jour qui précède la nuit où la lune se couche après le coucher du soleil.
A présent, cette définition est calculable, précise, coranique, unifiante et correcte, et scientifiquement empirique parce qu’elle utilise l’horizon occidental réel comme ligne de démarcation entre la lune et le soleil, et non des lignes imaginaires dans l’espace lointain comme dans la définition de la conjonction lunaire qui est mesurée à partir de midi, et non à partir du coucher du soleil.
Le début du mois lunaire
Ainsi, le Ramadan et les autres mois lunaires commencent QUAND LA LUNE SE COUCHE APRÈS LE SOLEIL. C’est une définition très simple et précise.
Pour rendre cette définition encore plus précise, la vidéo tient compte du fait que les astronomes mesurent le coucher du soleil et de la lune à partir du sommet de leurs disques, ce qui est correct pour le coucher du soleil, mais le coucher de la lune doit être mesuré à partir du bas, au niveau de son croissant potentiellement visible, et cette différence de mesure est d’environ trois minutes. En d’autres termes, la lune entière doit être au-dessus de l’horizon au moment où le soleil entier est sous l’horizon. La définition la plus précise est donc la suivante :
LE RAMADAN COMMENCE LA PREMIÈRE NUIT LORSQUE LA LUNE SE COUCHE AU MOINS 3 MINUTES APRÈS LE COUCHER DU SOLEIL. LE JOUR SUIVANT EST LE PREMIER JOUR DU RAMADAN
La vidéo utilise cette définition pour calculer les dates du Ramadan pour le monde entier, et elles sont indiquées sur les cartes dans la vidéo, de sorte que vous pouvez les trouver facilement.
Calendrier du Ramadan : choix entre deux dates
Dans les cas où vous n’êtes pas sûr entre deux dates de la carte, il faut simplement choisir la date la plus tardive. Ceci est conforme au verset 2:189 qui nous dit d’être prudents, ce qui signifie « choisissez la date la plus tardive lorsque vous n’êtes pas sûrs ».
Soit dit en passant, pendant les jours de Ramadan, les croyants jeûnent du début de l’aube jusqu’au coucher du soleil. Et s’il n’y a pas de coucher de soleil ou de début d’aube astronomique à l’endroit où vous vous trouvez, vous pouvez apprendre comment gérer cette situation dans l’autre clarification intitulée « Jeûner dans l’Extrême Nord et l’Extrême Sud ».
Par : Alban Fejza, le Messager Clarifiant
Remerciements :
Les données relatives au Coucher du Soleil et au Coucher de la Lune sont extraites de l’Observatoire Naval Américain (US Naval Observatory), et validées par les données du HM Nautical Almanac Office. Vingt points de données géographiques ont été identifiés pour chaque carte où
Coucher de la Lune = Coucher du Soleil + 3 min.
Les données ont été modélisées à l’aide de régressions polynomiales (R2=0,998), puis cartographiées sur une carte à projection équirectangulaire.
Remerciements particuliers à Arjeta Fejza pour la double vérification des données,
Combien y a-t-il de prières par jour selon le Coran ?
Le Coran prescrit des temps spécifiques de prières (4:103), pas un nombre spécifique de prières. Par conséquent, les prières selon le Coran peuvent être :
– tout dépend de la façon dont le soleil se déplace dans le ciel, et cela dépend de votre localisation (latitude) et de la période de l’année.
Les différentes combinaisons possibles de prières, selon votre localisation et la période de l’année :
Dans la vidéo ci-dessus, vous pouvez voir toutes les combinaisons possibles de prières pour toutes les périodes possibles de l’année, pour toutes les localisations possibles – enfin, une compréhension complète de cette question.
Il y a toujours 5 prières à l’équateur
Ainsi, il y a toujours cinq prières quotidiennes obligatoires, près de l’équateur, de 21° Nord à 21° Sud, ce qui inclut La Mecque.
Il y a parfois 4 prières : Aube, Après-midi, Coucher du soleil et Nuit
Ensuite, à 22° Nord, il y a quelques jours de décembre avec quatre temps de prière disponibles. À 23° Nord, il y a encore plus de jours avec quatre temps de prière, et ainsi de suite. Dans ces jours et lieux particuliers, le soleil ne s’élève pas à plus de 45°, de sorte que les ombres sont toujours plus longues que leurs objets, ce qui signifie que la journée passe directement de la matinée à l’après-midi. Ainsi, le Midi et l’Après-midi deviennent une seule prière, et peu importe que vous l’appeliez Midi ou Après-midi, elles sont tout simplement les mêmes dans ces cas. Nous l’appelons « Après-midi » dans la vidéo, juste pour utiliser l’un d’entre eux, mais elle peut également être appelé « Midi » dans cette circonstance. Alors, où dans le Coran, trouvons-nous ce cas de quatre prières ? Ce cas particulier de quatre prières est mentionné dans le Coran, au chapitre 20, verset 130 qui dit :
« …glorifiez votre Seigneur avant le lever du soleil (1. Aube), et avant le coucher du soleil (2. Après-midi), et pendant la nuit (3. Nuit) glorifiez-Le, ainsi qu’aux deux extrémités de la journée (4. Coucher de soleil et Aube). »
Si la période existe, on fait la prière
Comme vous pouvez le voir, la prière du midi n’est pas du tout mentionnée dans ce verset, reconnaissant le cas où le midi et l’après-midi sont la même chose, simplement décrits comme la prière avant le coucher du soleil. Et il est très facile de savoir quand ce cas de quatre prières s’applique, en utilisant le soleil comme dispositif de synchronisation. Donc, s’il y a l’aube, nous observons la prière de l’aube, et s’il n’y a pas d’aube, nous n’observons pas la prière de l’aube. S’il y a midi, nous faisons la prière du midi, et s’il n’y a pas de midi, nous ne faisons pas la prière du midi. S’il y a un après-midi, nous faisons la prière de l’après-midi. S’il n’y a pas d’après-midi, nous ne faisons pas la prière de l’après-midi. S’il y a un coucher de soleil ou un soir, nous faisons la prière du coucher du soleil. S’il n’y a pas de coucher de soleil ou de soir, nous ne faisons pas la prière du coucher du soleil. S’il y a une nuit d’obscurité complète, nous faisons la prière de la nuit, et s’il n’y a pas d’obscurité totale, nous ne faisons pas la prière de la nuit (4:103). Aussi simple que cela. Il est remarquable de voir à quel point les incrédules religieux ont le courage de modifier ces règles, parce qu’ils veulent les adapter à leur idée préconçue qu’il doit toujours y avoir 5 prières quotidiennes. Nous ne trouvons tout simplement pas cela dans le Coran. Ils l’inventent. Le Coran mentionne les temps de prière, et s’ils se produisent, vous les faites, et s’ils ne se produisent pas, vous ne les faites pas. Peu importe, s’ils s’avèrent être 5 ou 4 ou 3 ou 2 ou 1.
Parfois il y a 4 prières : Aube, Midi, Après-midi et Coucher du soleil
À 49° de latitude et jusqu’à 67° de latitude, pendant certains jours d’été, nous avons une autre série de quatre prières, à savoir – l’aube, le midi, l’après-midi et le coucher du soleil. Dans cette situation, la prière de la nuit est absente, car le soleil pendant ces jours n’atteint pas 18° sous l’horizon, et les jours se transforment simplement en crépuscule, mais pas en une nuit d’obscurité totale. Et cette situation avec quatre temps de prière est mentionnée au chapitre 30, versets 17 et 18, où il est dit : « …glorifiez Dieu au début du matin (1. Aube) et au début de la soirée (2. Coucher de soleil)… et louez-Le dans (3.) Après-midi, et (4.) le Midi. » Vous pouvez les trouver dans le Coran arabe, pas nécessairement dans les traductions.
Il y a parfois 3 prières : Aube, Après-midi et Coucher du soleil
De 59° Nord, jusqu’au pôle Nord, il y a certains jours de printemps et d’automne où seulement 3 temps de prière s’appliquent – l’aube, l’après-midi et le coucher du soleil. Et encore une fois, nous pouvons le trouver au chapitre 50, versets 39 et 40, où il est dit : « …glorifiez votre Seigneur avant le lever du soleil (1. Aube), et avant le coucher du soleil (2. Après-midi), et vers la nuit (3. Coucher de soleil) » Bien sûr, aucun autre temps de prière n’est mentionné dans ce cas.
Il y a parfois 2 prières : Midi et Après-midi
Ensuite, de 66° à 68° Nord, il y a des jours d’été où seulement 2 temps de prière s’appliquent – midi et après-midi, et nous pouvons trouver ces deux prières mentionnées ensemble au chapitre 30, verset 18.
Parfois il y a 3 prières : Aube, Coucher du soleil et Nuit
Ensuite, à partir de 68° Nord, principalement pendant les jours d’hiver, une autre série de 3 heures de prière s’applique – l’aube, le coucher du soleil et la nuit. Ces trois prières sont mentionnées ensemble au chapitre 11, verset 114, qui dit : « Observez les prières de contact aux deux extrémités de la journée (1. Aube & 2. Coucher de soleil) et pendant la nuit (3. Nuit)… » Ce cas est également mentionné au chapitre 76, versets 25 et 26.
Il y a parfois 1 prière : Après-midi
Ensuite, à partir de 69° Nord, il y a des jours d’été avec un seul temps de prière – l’après-midi. Ce temps de prière seul est mentionné au chapitre 2, verset 238, qui dit : « Observez constamment les Prières de Contact, surtout la prière du milieu… ». Comme vous pouvez le constater, le mot « surtout » implique ici que d’autres temps de prière peuvent ne pas être disponibles de manière constante dans certaines situations. C’est le cas ici.
Il y a parfois 2 prières : Aube et Coucher du soleil
À partir de 82° de latitude et au-dessus, il y a des jours de printemps et d’automne avec seulement 2 temps de prière disponibles – l’aube (matin) et le coucher du soleil (soir). Ces deux prières sont symétriques l’une à l’autre et se produisent toujours ensemble dans la même circonstance. C’est pourquoi le Coran les mentionne toujours ensemble, dans de nombreux versets – 30:17, 33:42, 40:55, 48:9, 24:36, 52:49, 76:25.
Parfois il y a 1 prière : Nuit
Et enfin, à 85° Nord et au-dessus, il y a des jours d’hiver où il fait toujours complètement sombre, et donc seule la prière de la nuit est due dans ces cas. C’est pourquoi nous pouvons trouver la prière de la nuit mentionnée seule dans de nombreux versets 73:2, 73:20, 25:64, 39:9, 26:218.
Une équité selon la localisation et la période de l’année
Dieu a conçu les prières de contact en fonction du mouvement du soleil, et non en fonction de leur nombre. C’est pour les garder tout aussi faciles, quelle que soit la période de l’année et le lieu. Par exemple, deux prières au pôle Nord glacial sont à peu près aussi faciles que cinq prières dans le tropique luxuriant. Ou quatre prières en hiver, sont à peu près aussi faciles que cinq prières en été. Se prosterner sur la terre ferme, par exemple, n’est pas la même chose que se prosterner dans la boue ou la neige froide. Pour éviter ces conditions sombres et difficiles, vous devez porter quelque chose ou construire quelque chose, et porter quelque chose n’est pas la même chose que de marcher librement les mains vides.
Même pour l’ablution, par temps froid, vous avez probablement besoin d’une serviette. À La Mecque, je n’avais pas besoin de serviettes. Dès que j’ai fait l’ablution, je me suis senti sec et prêt à partir. En Europe par exemple, en hiver, je dois dénouer mes chaussures, enlever mes chaussures, enlever mes chaussettes, probablement mon manteau aussi – plusieurs fois par jour. À La Mecque, je n’avais pas besoin de faire tout cela – les sandales sont trop faciles !
Consacrer 2,5% de son temps réveillé pour les prières (24 minutes par jour)
Les prières obligatoires ainsi que l’ablution et toutes ces choses pratiques qui pourraient se présenter sont conçues de manière à ce qu’elles prennent exactement 2,5 % de votre expérience de vie, ou 2,5 % de votre temps réveillé qui se traduit par un total de 24 minutes de temps consacré à Dieu par jour, quel que soit votre lieu et la saison, tout comme la Charité Obligatoire qui est de 2,5 %, quel que soit votre fortune.
Et vraiment nous n’avons pas besoin d’aller plus loin avec ces exemples pour justifier le nombre de prières dans certains endroits, parce que les temps de prières sont clairs dans le Coran, mais pas leur nombre, et si vous êtes un croyant, vous les ferez, quoi qu’il arrive ; 5 temps de prière de contact disponibles, et vous les faites, 4 temps de prière de contact disponibles, et vous les faites, et ainsi de suite. Vous les avez tous maintenant dans les tableaux de la vidéo – selon le lieu où vous vous trouvez.
Permettez-moi de vous rappeler qu’il n’y a pas une seule combinaison de prières que j’ai mentionnée ici, qui n’est pas non plus mentionnée dans le Coran, et qu’il n’y a pas non plus une seule combinaison de prières qui est mentionnée dans le Coran, que je n’ai pas non plus mentionnée ici – une correspondance complète.
Les Temps de la Prière de Contact sont des observations scientifiques
Soit dit en passant, alors que les prières de contact sont des pratiques religieuses, les TEMPS de la Prière de Contact sont des observations scientifiques. Ce ne sont donc pas des décrets religieux que nous apportons. Ce sont des observations astronomiques éprouvées que tout le monde peut voir. Vous pouvez regarder dans le ciel et voir par vous-même. Il n’y a rien de nouveau à ce sujet. Si les chefs religieux n’aiment pas cela, qu’ils trouvent un autre soleil, un qui les écoute, mais nous devons utiliser celui qui est déjà disponible, et en utilisant le soleil que Dieu nous a fournis, les temps de prière de contact sont définis selon le tableau ci-dessous :
The main purpose of a calendar is to calculate and keep track of time. Yet, Muslims use the Hijri Calendar, Christians use the Gregorian Calendar, and Jews use their own calendar. Which one of them is right? It turns out that the correct calendar is God’s calendar (10:5, 55:5); it’s written in the sky, and according to this correct calendar we use the sun to calculate the years, and we use the moon to calculate the months (10:5).
So, the Christians have changed the months incorrectly, and the Muslims have changed the years incorrectly, because they both wanted the months and the years to synchronize with each other. But they don’t have to synchronize. Do we also change the weeks so that they synchronize with the months? Do we make the weeks longer, or the months shorter? No.
A week is 7 days, a month is 29 or 30 days, and a year is 365 days. This means that one year has 12 months. So, the Christians have got it right when it comes to the years, the Muslims have got it right when it comes to the months, and the Jews have got it right when it comes to the weeks – their Sabbath is the seventh day (4:154).
