Author Topic: Mercy to mankind  (Read 3160 times)

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Offline Mohamed Saif

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Mercy to mankind
« on: April 14, 2017, 11:56:35 PM »
Assalamun Alaikum dear brothers

The Quran describes the Prophet as being a Mercy to the whole of mankind. So once a Christian friend of mine asked me that if he was a Mercy why didn't he forgive adulterers instead of stoning them. Didn't the Prophet have the right to forgive sin?

Offline AMuslimDude213

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2017, 05:19:44 AM »
he was a Mercy to all Mankind,he was also very Just,what Allah gave him,he would listen and he would have to follow that,in fact he didn't stone all adulterers,Adulterers who repented to Allah would be forgiven,he forgave everyone who repented except the ones who would hurt innocents and do all sorts of evil.

Offline AhmadFarooq

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2017, 10:46:00 AM »
"Didn't the Prophet have the right to forgive sin?"

What is the evidence for such a claim? The only Muslims I have personally seen believing that the Prophet had the right to forgive sins are those who argue in support of the death penalty for blasphemy and apostasy in all situations. This is done in order to prove that the individuals committing apostasy or blasphemy during the Prophet's time were forgiven because of the Prophet and not because they were forgivable offences in Sharia'.

Is there any reference of adulterers being forgiven?

Offline Sama

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2017, 02:43:34 PM »
Allah orders the Prophet to apply His laws.

Allah forgives sins.

The story of Jesus' refusal to stone the woman is a fabrication.

 The Woman Taken in Adultery

The story of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery is arguably the best known story about Jesus in the Bible; it certainly has always been a favorite in Hollywood versions of his life. It even makes it into Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, although that movie focuses only on Jesus's last hours (the story is treated in one of the rare flashbacks). Despite its popularity, the account is found in only one passage of the New Testament, in John 7:53-8:12, and it appears not to have been original even there.

The story line is familiar. Jesus is teaching in the temple, and a group of scribes and Pharisees, his sworn enemies, approach him, bringing with them a woman "who had been caught in the very act of adultery." They bring her before Jesus because they want to put him to the test. The Law of Moses, as they tell him, demands that such a one be stoned to death; but they want to know what he has to say about the matter. Should they stone her or show her mercy? It is a trap, of course. If Jesus tells them to let the woman go, he will be accused of violating the Law of God; if he tells them to stone her, he will be accused of dismissing his own teachings of love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Jesus does not immediately reply; instead he stoops to write on the ground. When they continue to question him, he says to them, "Let the one who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her." He then returns to his writing on the ground, while those who have brought the woman start to leave the scene—evidently feeling convicted of their own wrongdoing—until no one is left but the woman. Looking up, Jesus says, "Woman, where are they? Is there no one who condemns you?" To which she replies, "No one, Lord." He then responds, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

It is a brilliant story, filled with pathos and a clever twist in which Jesus uses his wits to get himself—not to mention the poor woman— off the hook. Of course, to a careful reader, the story raises numerous questions. If this woman was caught in the act of adultery, for example, where is the man she was caught with? Both of them are to be stoned, according to the Law of Moses (see Lev. 20:10). Moreover, when Jesus wrote on the ground, what exactly was he writing? (According to one ancient tradition, he was writing the sins of the accusers, who seeing that their own transgressions were known, left in embarrassment!) And even if Jesus did teach a message of love, did he really think that the Law of God given by Moses was no longer in force and should not be obeyed? Did he think sins should not be punished at all?

Despite the brilliance of the story, its captivating quality, and its inherent intrigue, there is one other enormous problem that it poses. As it turns out, it was not originally in the Gospel of John. In fact, it was not originally part of any of the Gospels. It was added by later scribes.

How do we know this? In fact, scholars who work on the manuscript tradition have no doubts about this particular case. Later in this book we will be examining in greater depth the kinds of evidence that scholars adduce for making judgments of this sort. Here I can simply point out a few basic facts that have proved convincing to nearly all scholars of every persuasion: the story is not found in our oldest and best manuscripts of the Gospel of John; its writing style is very different from what we find in the rest of John (including the stories immediately before and after); and it includes a large number of words and phrases that are otherwise alien to the Gospel. The conclusion is unavoidable: this passage was not originally part of the Gospel.

How then did it come to be added? There are numerous theories about that. Most scholars think that it was probably a well known story circulating in the oral tradition about Jesus, which at some point was added in the margin of a manuscript. From there some scribe or other thought that the marginal note was meant to be part of the text and so inserted it immediately after the account that ends in John 7:52. It is noteworthy that other scribes inserted the account in different locations in the New Testament—some of them after John 21:25, for example, and others, interestingly enough, after Luke 21:38. In any event, whoever wrote the account, it was not John.

That naturally leaves readers with a dilemma: if this story was not originally part of John, should it be considered part of the Bible? Not everyone will respond to this question in the same way, but for most textual critics, the answer is no.

http://darkness2noor.blogspot.com.eg/2014/08/bart-ehrman-misquoting-jesus-fabricated.html

Offline Mohamed Saif

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2017, 12:50:35 AM »
Assalamun Alaikum

Thank you for that wonderful answer. My friend here told that Christ had the authority to forgive any sin and quoted that "The Son of Man has the authority to forgive sin". Since Prophet Muhammad is a Mercy to mankind, didn't he have the authority to forgive sin?

Offline AhmadFarooq

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2017, 02:29:32 AM »
Scholars broadly categorise sins into two groups, sins against God and sins against man. Some particular scholars - in my personal experience only those who support the alleged unforgivable nature of blasphemy and apostasy - claim that the Prophet had the right to forgive sins against God. I personally haven't come across a direct statement from the Prophet mentioning such. I don't see how "Mercy to mankind" should imply any "authority to forgive sin".

Offline Mohamed Saif

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2017, 05:51:20 AM »
Assalamun alaikum dear brother Ahmed

Then what does "Mercy to Mankind" mean?

Offline AhmadFarooq

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2017, 08:28:32 AM »
W/slam,

From what I know, "mercy to mankind" also translated as "mercy for all the worlds" doesn't have any legal implications so exegesis writers haven't formally defined the term.

You can read one commentary for it on page 236 of the following link:
https://ia802707.us.archive.org/2/items/maarifulquran-english-pdf/MaarifulquranEnglishPdf-Vol6-Page184-243ByMuftiShafiUsmaniRah.

Offline Dr Tazeen

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2017, 05:22:36 AM »
Wa alaikum assalam wa rehmatullahi wa barakatuh...

We drs sometimes go for removing the whole organ or the limb, if someone is suffering from malignant cancer, the cancer which spreads...

This is mercy for that man and that body...The life is saved, the person would not suffer from further pain and distress, the body is saved from the malignant deposits...(sec carcinoma)

Similarly, when there is a sin , which would destroy the whole society and takes many lives,if it prevails in that society,it should be wiped off at once...

This is mercy too

Offline Mohamed Saif

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Re: Mercy to mankind
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2017, 12:37:27 PM »
Assalamun alaikum

That was a wonderful answer

 

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