Ramaḍān - Day 19

Ma’mūn Ar-Rashīd, a Muslim Khalīfah, used to host religious gatherings, wherein Muslim scholars discussed various issues.

On one such occasion, a Jew entered the discourse. He was notably well-dressed, respectable in appearance and eloquent in speech. At the end of the discussion, as the crowd began to disperse, Ma’mūn called him and asked, “Are you a Jew?”
“Yes”, he replied.
Ma’mūn asked him to accept Islām, but he refused, saying, “I cannot leave my religion and the religion of my ancestors.” Saying this, he left.

One year later, he returned, but this time he had converted to Islām. He delivered a scholarly lecture on Islamic jurisprudence. At the end of the gathering, Ma’mūn asked him, “Are you not the same person who attended last year?”
“Yes”, he replied.
“What caused you to accept Islām?” Ma’mūn enquired.

He answered, “After leaving your gathering last year, I decided to embark on a comparative study of religions. As I am a fine calligrapher, I wrote three copies of the Torāh in which I added and deleted a few words. With these copies of the Torāh, I entered a synagogue. These copies were brought from me. I then wrote three copies of the Injīl in which I also added and deleted a few words. I entered a church and sold these as well. Then I wrote out three copies of the Qur’ān, and likewise added and deleted a few words. When I presented these to the Muslim booksellers, they examined them before deciding to buy them. They discovered the additions and deletions in them and immediately dispensed with them. I then realised that this book was protected, and embraced Islām.”

Allāh has undertaken to protect the Qur’ān. It has been meticulously and miraculously preserved for over fourteen hundred years and will remain so till the end of time.

[Tafsīr Qurṭubī]

Moulana Huzaifa Saleh