Pumpkin Says Allah?

This is really a BIG TEST (ibtala') for me to write about this subject. What I'm about to tell you is strange and I know some of you are going to think "Ol Sheik Yusuf finally went off to 'Goofee Land'."

There is something that I am going to share with you and mention in reference to this subject that I have kept quiet about since leaving being a preacher to come to Islam. I don't blame you if you laugh. At at least read this, but please, dear reader pay attention to the warning coming up...

About lies & Muslims who deceive . . .

After all, who is the one that has been attacking the brothers and sisters (hopefully in a kind a respectful manner) regarding putting the fake pictures on the Internet and the stories of weird occurrences in nature which people claim bring them to believe in Allah?
Me.

I am the very same person who only two years ago went on record as debunking the "Shahadah in the Forest" picture and the "Tree in Ruku'ah Facing Qiblah" picture, and the "Fish with Allahu Akbar on His Side" picture, as well as many others.

This goes back to my days of debunking the old fairy tales and lies in the Christian church which we heard from infancy onward. We were told in that if you look down from above on the back of a burro (small donkey) you will see a brown stripe running from his neck to his tail and across his front shoulder is another brown line which forms a 'cross'. Well sure enough some burros do have this type of marking. If you get up high over the donkey and look down and use your imagination a little you will see a brown line intersecting another brown line to form a 'x' or a 'cross' right across his shoulders.
So what?

Well we were told that before Jesus was born, no donkeys ever had this. (What is the evidence for such a statement?).

Then the story begins:
A donkey carried Mary to Bethlehem while she was pregnant with Jesus and was present in the manager when Jesus was born. (Again, any proof?).

A donkey carried Jesus into the city on Palm Sunday (this is in all the gospels in the Bible). So, for all his carrying of Jesus, the donkey gets to carry the 'cross' on his back as an honor for his service.

According to this type of thinking, we should all wear a cross with honor and pride. And now today, how many would be happy to wear a cross hanging from their ears, nose, eyebrows, tummy, and tattoo a cross in places which I won't mention?

My reason for being against these types of so called 'miracles' is that it has no basis in true belief. I lived all over Texas and Mexico for over 50 years and watched so much superstition over these same types of things that it made me sick of it all. People would claim that they had a tree which would "cry" at Easter time or a statue of the Virgin Mary would "weep" tears.

One case a few years back in San Antonio, I recall a window in the front of a home which would show some kind of "crucifixion" or something at a certain time of the night. People would come from all over filling the street and jamming the front yard and falling on their knees praying and crying. People were claiming to be 'healed' of sicknesses and cancer, etc. It was in the newspapers and made quite a sensation -- for a while. But then, after a while the light thing stopped, things went back to usual and people went back to their routine lives of lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, drugs, violence.

Then there is the story that Jimmy Swaggart related in the debate between he and Ahmad Deedat back over 10 years ago in Louisiana. (By the way, I personally hate these debates and I only do dialogs with the Christian preachers to offer better understandings of Islam -- and by the way, we do give a number of Shahadahs at these events. Sometimes even to the leaders of the church). Anyway, at the end of the debate Jimmy Swaggart did a real sneaky trick used by preachers all the time to try to 'prove their point.'

He told a story without any proof or reference what ever.

He said:
"You know, Mr. Deedat, I had a dream the other night. And in that dream, I believe that I heard the voice of God. I think that was God talking to me. And if it was God talking to me, he was telling me; 'You go tell Mr. Deedat and all his Mozlems (I hate the way Jimmy Swaggart says 'Mozlems') You go tell Mr. Deedat and all his Mozlems friends that Jesus loves him and Jesus loves them too. And if they'll just come to him in the precious name of Jesus, why, he'll accept them and love them and he'll forgive them." (This is as close as I remember the actual video tape)

Then Swaggart went on to tell a another story:

He said that he had heard about someone in Europe or England that was thinking about becoming a Muslim. But he goes on to tell us that:

"This person was had a friend who was very ill and dying in the hospital. So he though he would test if Islam was right. And so he prayed in the 'name of Mohammed' for them to get well, but the person didn't get well. So he prayed in the 'Precious Name of Jesus' and the person got well and was cured of the sickness.

And on this statement he based his conclusion for the debate: "Is the Bible the Word of God?"

And by the way, when I was a prison chaplain in Texas, I found that the ministries in the prisons there are using the same video tape of Ahmad Deedat and Jimmy Swaggart to call people to 'Jesus.' They all conclude as Mr. Swaggart did, that the only thing that matters is if you get what you want from your prayers.

To believe that someone or something has power with Allah or in place of Allah or a connection with Allah is 'shirk' (making partners with Allah, may Allah save us from this). Allah says that He does not forgive that anyone set up partners with Him in worship, but anything less than that He can forgive.

This is perhaps the biggest test of all. It is not so much that a person believe that there is Allah. After all, every religion out there claims to believe in God of some kind. Every religion teaches to pray to their gods. Some teach that there is only one god, and that they have pray to god through some other god or some 'icon' which represents or reminds them of god, or it acts as an intercessor between them and god.

And some of these prayers to their 'gods' are answered. After all, if they didn't get what they wanted at least once in a while they would not continue to believe in their false gods would they?

But who is really the One the ultimately answers their prayers? Who really gives them what they ask for? Who gives them life? Who heals them? Who provides for them? Who is the Only One do all Praise? -- Of course, it is only Almighty Allah.

The point of the matter is to see how they treat and respect Allah. The real test is:
Will we worship Allah, alone, on His terms, conditions and follow His commandments?

That process is called:
ISLAM
(Surrender, Submission, Obedience, Purity of Intention, Peace)

My point is that these kinds of things seem to me to be more of a test of character than a proof of God's existence. Only those who already believe would come out and get excited. The non-believers just stand back and watch "those crazy fools making idiots of themselves."

I have seen people claim miracles in the "Name of the Father"; and in the "Precious Name of Jesus"; and in the "Name of the Holy Spirit." So, now what I am about to say... well, just read it for yourself and judge.

[Written in Cairo, Egypt in July 2001]