Iman is “that you believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in qadar, both in its good and in its evil aspects.” (Muslim)
The scholars have defined Iman from the language and the Shariah texts as a firm conviction of the heart, that conforms with the sensed reality based on definite evidence. This means Iman can only be firmly established through the mind and clear evidence.
What are the rational proofs that the Books and Messengers are from Allah ta’aala?
The Quran is a book in the Arabic language. This is a tangible and comprehensible reality. The fact that it is an Arabic discourse allows for only three possibilities for its authorship: an Arab, Mohammad (SAW) who proclaimed it, and Allah ta’aala.
The Quran could not be from the Arabs because it challenged them to bring something similar,
Let them then produce a recital like unto it (the Quran) if they are truthful. (52:34)
Say, Then bring ten surahs like it… (11:13)
then bring a single surah like it…(2:23)
The Arabs were unable to meet the challenge of the Quran. The number of reports from the 7th century that attest to this has the status of ‘tawaatur’ (recurrent chains of reporting that are beyond any doubt.)
Yet historians affirm that the time of the Quran’s revelation was the golden age of Arab eloquence. The 7th century Arabs were masters of the Arabic language, revered poetry and had amongst them the best poets and orators. They were well equipped to meet the challenge of the Quran. If they had succeeded it would have proved the Quran to be the speech of a human being. They not only failed, but found themselves captivated and perplexed by its unique composition and eloquence. Waleed bin Mughira, one of the leaders of Quraysh and a poet said,
‘By Allah, I have heard a speech from Muhammad (Quran) that is neither from the speech of men or jinn; the top of it is fertile and beautiful, it has a rhythm and it surpasses everything I’ve heard and nothing can surpass it.’
This also proves that the Quran could not have been Mohammad’s (SAW) speech, for after all he was an Arab. If the Arabs were incapable, then as an Arab he too was incapable. And if it had been his speech then any of his contemporaries would have been able to rival it. In fact Mohammad (SAW) was known to have never composed or recited any poetry; he never studied under a poet master nor competed in the annul poetry competitions that were held at Souk Ukaz. Consequently, it is rationally impossible to believe that the Quran could be the speech of Mohammad if the acknowledged masters of poetry were incapable of meeting the challenge.
Moreover, Mohammad (SAW) never claimed that the Quran was his speech nor did the Arabs allege that it was.
Since the Quran is neither the speech of the Arabs nor of Mohammad, then the only rational explanation is, that if is from Allah ta’aala,
And truly, this (the Quran) is a revelation from the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists) (26:192)
The Quran is also the rational proof of Mohammad’s Messengership. We know through recurrent reports that Mohammad (SAW) brought the Quran. Allah ta’aala supported His Prophets with miracles so as to prove the truthfulness of their claim. The Quran is the miracle of Prophet Mohammad (SAW) for he challenged his people with it and they were incapable of meeting the challenge: A miracle and challenge that will endure till the Day of Judgement.
“Every Prophet was given miracles because of which people believed, but what I have been given, is Divine Inspiration which Allah has revealed to me.” (Sahih Bukhari).
Moreover, the Quran is the divine law of Allah which only the Messengers brought, further proof of Prophet Mohammad’s Messengership.
As for Iman in the other Books of Allah and the Messengers who brought them, Iman in them is not rational, for the miracles that prove their truthfulness can no longer be sensed. Musa’s (as) staff turning into a snake, and Isa (as) bringing the dead back to life, are miracles that have ceased to exist. However, we believe in these miracles, the Books and the Messengers who brought them because they have been mentioned in the Quran or mutawatir Hadith. So while it is true we have no rational evidence that these Books and Messengers are from Allah, Iman in them is not ‘blind’. This is because Iman in them is based on our rationally proving that the Quran is the Speech of Allah ta’aala.
Say, (O believers),We have believed in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are Muslims (in submission) to Him. (2:136)
This is also why we have Iman in the angels, the jinn, the Last Day, Reckoning, Paradise, Hellfire, and Al Qadr. None of these things can be perceived by our senses, but because our Aql has acknowledged the reality of a Creator, and accepted the Quran as His speech, we have Iman in all that is disclosed to us by Allah ta’aala and the Rasool (SAW).
O you who have believed, believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Book that He sent down upon His Messenger and the Scripture which He sent down before. And whoever disbelieves in Allah , His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day has certainly gone far astray. (4:136)
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