 In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Now that I've cast a spell over all of you, you begin now. So time is very limited, as we know, so I'm going to talk, I'm going to give you a little glimpse into Muslim biblical hearing and hermeneutics, God willing. So we're going to look at Muhammad and typologies in the Bible, the foreshadowing of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Now obviously this is an extremely fast topic, usually when I lecture on this topic, it's a two or three hour lecture. So I'm trying to condense it down, I'm sorry if I go a little fast, but I'd like to hear more ideas or responses or fruit growing at me later during the Q&A session. Hopefully no fruit growing. So Justin Marder was a second century Christian apologist and heresiologist. He's one of the principal shapers of what's known as Logos Christology. He has many treatises that he offered. One of the most interesting one is called Dialogue with Trifo the Jew. So this is a dialogue that he kind of invented, a Jewish interlocutor, and they go back and forth debating whether Christ is actually the Messiah. And for Justin Marder, the most cogent argument that he can make to bolster his idea that Christ is actually Hamashiach the Messiah, is not looking at what's known as Murnagizat, not at miracles, but to look at fulfillment of prophecy. That's his strongest argument with his Jewish interlocutor, is that Jesus fulfilled many messianic expectations. So one of the things, and this is a point of contention, a polemical contention that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years between Jews and Christians, is Isaiah chapter 7 for example, where it's stated that a child will be born or a woman, a young woman, a virgin, what does it say? It's going to give birth to someone called Emmanuel, God with us. And Justin Marder would say, this is Jesus, and then the Jewish side would retort and say, no, you're not looking at the context. The context is, Isaiah is talking to Ahaz, and then the son is born in Isaiah chapter 8, that's what he's talking about. Justin would retort and say, well that's the exoteric element of the prophecy. So for Justin Marder and for Matthew as well, Matthew the Evangelist will quote this passage in his gospel. There's an exoteric element of scripture and there's an esoteric element. There's an apparent element and there's an unapparent element. And Imam Ghazali, who is one of the greatest Muslim theologians and philosophers of middle ages, highly influenced the likes of St. Thomas Aquinas. He says, and he's quoting a hadith, he says it's either a hadith, a statement of the prophet or a statement of Ali, the prophet's companion. Or the prophet said, and for the Quran there is an outward exoteric element and there's also an esoteric element. So Matthew is quoting Isaiah chapter 7 and saying, yes, on the surface it's fulfilled in Isaiah chapter 8, King Ahaz as a son and so on and so forth. But it's a Christological typology and it's esoteric element. It's a foreshadowing of the birth of the Jewish Messiah. This is how Justin approaches scripture. This is how Origen approaches scripture. Origen of Alexandria, one of the greatest, most prolific pre-Nicene early church fathers, was anathematized eventually in 553 of the Common Era. Because at the end of the day he was a subordinationist and that didn't fly obviously with the Orthodox Christians. But he wrote over a thousand books, right? And he said that scripture has indeed these multiple levels of meaning. So keep that in mind when we quote some of these passages. That this is how Muslims read the scripture as well. That there's an exoteric meaning. And Imam Vazali, he condemns those who look at the apparent meaning only and forget what's on beneath the surface. They're Thahiriya. He calls them literalists, right? And then he also condemns those who strictly look at the esoteric element, but ignore the apparent element. He calls these people, the Baltiniya, the esotericist. And he says a successful combines both. So keep that in mind for now. So there is a prophecy that Muslims are quoting. We'll tend to quote from the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy. Which God says to Moses, I'm only fluent in English, by the way. Because that's the language I cuss in. And I dream in. A little bit of other languages as well. But it's more of an academic understanding as long as I can get up and give a sermon in ancient Greek or anything like that. So this is a very interesting prophecy. Very, very interesting. A prophet I will raise up from their brethren. So there's many elements of this prophecy. Now the Quran, interestingly enough, it says, That those who are given the previous scripture, they know the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. They know one of their own sons. When the prophet came into Medina during the Hijrah, he made a migration, a major migration. Just like Moses made a major migration. Which will come into play when we talk about this prophecy. That there's a similarity between the two men. When he came into Medina, a Jewish rabbi named Abdullah ibn Salaam, made a very interesting comment. He said, He said, I can tell just by looking at his face, that it wasn't the face of a liar. So some of the exeges of Hadith, they wonder why did he say that? Is it because the prophet just had an honest looking face? Or perhaps he recognized the prophet, the physical description of the prophet. We'll talk about that later as well. Other verses in the Quran, says that which is translated as unlettered prophet. It can be translated as the motherly prophet, the compassionate prophet. There's different ways of translating He has mentioned, he has mentioned my name in the Torah or described in the Torah and in the Injil, the Gospel. So this prophecy is interesting, because it says that this prophet is from their brethren. Who are the brethren of the ancient Israelites? Other Israelites. This is true. In Deuteronomy 17, the Israelites were commanded to pick a king from your brethren. They picked Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. But we also hear that the Edomites don't have a good reputation, but we won't get into that. But the Edomites who are descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, what does God say about them in Deuteronomy 237? Just abhor not the Edomite, for he is your ah, he is your brother. Right? So the Edomites who are Arabs are described as brethren of the Israelite. So there's a general principle that's established here, is that the children of two brothers are brethren to one another. Ishmael is Isaac, the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. He's a descendant of Ishmael. Ishmael, alaihi s-salam. So their progenies are brethren to one another. And then it says, Kamoukha, this prophet is going to be like you, is going to be like Moses. Now I try to find these correspondences between Moses and Muhammad, peace be upon him. Interestingly enough, as the story goes, when the prophet peace be upon him was 40 years old, he would go to this cave, in this mountain called Jabal al-Nur, the mountain of light, for what's known as Tehannuf, or Tehannuf in Hebrew, which is some sort of devotional practice he would do in the cave. And then he was visited by an angel. This is a story that's given in Syrah literature, in Hadith literature. The angel came to him and said, Iqara, and the prophet responded, Ma'anebiqari, read, I cannot read. In verse 12, the book is given to one who knows no letters. The book is given to one who is ummi, who is unlettered. And it shall be said to him in Hebrew, Iqara, Iqara is the exact cognate of the Arabic, Iqara, it is exactly the same word. And he shall answer, I don't know the book, I am unlettered. So there's a perfect prophecy of the prophet peace be upon him. Of course you have to say operating under a hermeneutic of suspicion, it's all the prophet knew it and he engineered it so. And this goes back to like Justin and his Jewish interlocutor debating. So why do you believe Jesus is the Messiah? The Christian would say, look, the book of Zachariah says the king of Zion sits on a donkey. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Jesus came into Jerusalem sitting on a donkey. And then the Jewish interlocutor would say, why don't Jesus knew that? And he engineered it, he self fulfilled it. So there's no suspicion. There's one way of looking at the scripture. Anyway, after this happens, the prophet goes to his wife Khadija and he tells her what had happened. And she's not a scholar. So she said let's go to a scholar, which is a great lesson that if you don't know, like the Quran says, If you don't know, go to the people of knowledge. So they go to who? A Christian scribe named Waraqa bin Naufal. And what does Waraqa say? Namosu al-Atbat. Kamaa jaa ila musa al-aisaraan. There has come unto you the great nomos. Namos is the Greek word for the Torah. It's called pentatuk or hanamos. The law of God. There has come unto you the law of God. Kamaa just like it came. And this Kamaa particle is interesting because that's exactly what's used in Deuteronomy 1818. Kamaa kamokha like you. This Bible will be like you. The great law has come unto you just as it came to Moses. This is what Waraqa bin Naufal tells the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. The Prophet Muhammad, he said to his cousin, Aadi, I'ma tarada anta kuna minni bimanzeeliti haroon min musa ghayla naa nabiya baadi awkama qada. He said, are you not pleased that you are to me as Aaron was to Moses? So he has that correspondence. The biggest, the most important correspondence with him is that both were given shari'a, halaqa, a system of law, divine law. God revealed a complete system of law, sacred law in its outward and inward aspects. And the Qur'an says in many places that there is a similarity between the two men. Waraqa itaina musa kitaba we gave Moses the book of law. Falatukun bi miryati min liqa bi So don't be in doubt about it reaching you, right? We also received this law, this great law of God, the nomos the namoos, al aqba. So there's a similarity there. Another verse in the Qur'an says Inna arsana ilayka rasoolan shahidan a'leykum kama arsana ila fir'auna rasoola. There we have sent a messenger to be witnessed over you just as we have sent a messenger unto the Pharaoh. Kama again this particle of comparison is used. So the Hebrew said from their brethren this prophet will be like you. I will put my words into his mouth I will put my words into his mouth. And he will speak unto them everything that I command him. He does not speak except by the command of God, right? When najmin hitha hawa man dolla sahibukum muma ghawa wa ma yantiku anil hawa inhua illa wahiyu yuha, yama hup shadidu lkuwa The Qur'an says the prophet does not speak from his hawa. He does not speak from his own caprice, his own desire. It is no less an inspiration sent down to him. And some Muslims will say that this prophecy of 1818 finds further description in the descriptions of the Yohannim Gospels Parakletos the parakeet of the Gospel of John which many Christian exegetes will say that for example in the Anger Bible will say later on it was ascribed to the Holy Spirit but it could have been a different type of salvific figure that was later confused with the Holy Spirit. That's a different topic altogether. Now this prophet of 1818 Deuteronomy it's carried into the New Testament so we are told from the Gospel of John which was written around 90 of the common era, 110 of the common era that's the dominant opinion from biblical scholars, New Testament scholars that the Jews at that time were expecting the coming of three great luminaries three great luminaries right? So it says here this is the passage I have on the sheet there, it's in the coin a Greek so basically it says and this is a witness of John when Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to John in order to ask him sutis a, who are you and he confessed and did not deny and he confessed who came me I am not the Messiah so this is the first person that the children of Israel were waiting for at the time of the Gospel of John according to the Gospel of John they were waiting for the Christ and then they say are you Elijah according to the Book of Second Kings Elijah was carried up into a chariot of fire into the heavens and it was a dominant belief amongst the first century, second century that he's going to proceed the coming of the Messiah and he says what he says no, who came me I am not and then they say ha, prophetes esu are you the prophet right? so they're not asking him are you a prophet right? it's not indefinite, ha is a definite article in coin a Greek are you the prophet right? and he says are you the prophet right? so these are the three people that they were waiting for, these great luminaries that were supposed to come Elijah Elijah the Messiah the Christ and the prophet the prophet the prophet that's like Moses so according to Stephen Al-Harris these two people are different the Christ and the prophet are two distinct people, we cannot conflate the two and the evidence of this is found also in the Gospel of John when we read John chapter 7 it's the verse under that Jesus is in Galilee he's performing all of these miracles right? and people don't really know what to make of him so it says here that some of the people said this truly is the prophet this is the prophet referring to what? Deuteronomy 1818 this is the prophet like unto Moses and then it says other said this is the Christ and there was a schism between them there's a difference of opinion is this the Christ or is this the prophet so there are two separate and distinct people they're not one and the same so Muslims will say that this is indeed a prophecy of the holy prophet Muhammad now something else I wanted to talk about another passage which I know I'm going very fast here this is an interesting passage this is from the song of Solomon so the song of Solomon is called Shirah Hashireem in Hebrew which is a way of making the superlative in the Hebrew you repeat the word and you make it plural like the best king is who? the king of kings the best book is the book of books the best poem the best song is the Shirah Hashireem the song of Psalms so traditionally this was believed to have been authored by salamans in 3,000 years ago now what's interesting is on the surface the exoteric elements suggest that this is simply a dialogue between a lover and a beloved and we should make nothing more of that that's what it is but Jewish exegetes and Christian exegetes they have different ways of reading the scripture so many Jewish exegetes will say this is actually at the esoteric level depicting God's relationship with Israel the lover and the beloved Christian exegetes will say this is depicting at it's esoteric level it's an unapparent level the relationship between Christ and the church Roger Ellsworth who is the president of the Illinois Baptist Association he actually wrote a book called he is altogether lovely finding Christ in the song of Solomon that's how he reads the scripture so let's look at this description it's really interesting I'm going to be quoting from chapter 5 starting in verse 10 it says here my beloved is white and red chief amongst 10,000 so Muslims immediately recognize right when we read that word we say oh this is a title of the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him this is one of the most exalted titles of the prophet Muhammad according to Islamic tradition according to Islamic prophetology is Habibullah the beloved of God he has the station of Mahabba the station of love which is the highest station now Dr. Napfi he quoted the verse we don't make distinctions between prophets right we don't do that this is first person common singular plural we don't make distinctions so we believe as Muslims that God has them at different darajat after them that some prophets are above others they have a higher station than others this is what the Quran says and we believe that the prophet Muhammad is the best of creation he is creation he's a human being he's a human being but he's the best human being right so our position regarding the prophet is analogous to Arius' position regarding Christ represented at the synod at Nicaea 325 of the common era when Arius said that Christ is he's the best of creation but he's not homayous to us he doesn't share an essence with God because he considered that to be idolatry right so Muslims believe that but he's the best human being like the poet said he said Muhammad peace be upon him he's the best human being but he's not like other human beings he's a diamond or a ruby and everyone else is a stone a diamond is still a stone essentially is the same as any other stone it's a stone but it's the greatest stone possibly anyway so it says my beloved is white and red and if you look at descriptions of the prophet peace be upon him there's a whole genre of literature shama'il literature this is literature that's dedicated to describing the physical attributes of the prophet his physicality as well as his comportment his outward and inward his bottom and bottom aspects so interestingly Imam Ali he describes the prophet in the shama'il of Abubisah Tirmidhi this is probably the most famous book of shama'il written by a scholar he says his complexion was a white with redness that was his complexion my beloved is white and red my beloved is white and red so many muslim scholars would say that this is probably a reference to the conquest of Mecca when the prophet peace be upon him came into the city of Mecca with 10,000 companions and took control of the city without any one getting killed there was no vengeance he parted the city, declared a general honesty he climbed a little hill called Abu Qubayt and he said there is no blemish upon you today God has forgiven you and sometimes we forget this aspect of the prophet the prophet's magnanimous character his gentleness the prophet peace be upon him he said no one knows the man better than the wife trust me what did she say she said she the prophet never struck anything not a woman a boy a woman a servant never struck anyone with his hand he never struck anyone with his hand this is what his wife said this is what Adi also said who grew up in his household the prophet at the battle of Uffar there was a battle called and the prophet was wounded in his blessed face and there was blood streaming down his face and he was seeing trying to catch the blood with his hand and his companions said what are you doing and he said help me catch the blood and he was absorbing the blood with his sleeves he said why do you want to do that he said if one drop of this blood should strike the earth then immediately immediately our enemies the people who are fighting right now will be struck annihilated obliterated by angels immediately so his companions said that's good isn't that good let it flow so a short time later he was seen with his hands up in the air supplicated and the companions said but it's over game over for our enemies so they hurt him and he said oh God guide my people for they don't know you know we're told that when Jesus is on the cross of course Christians don't believe Muslims don't believe that Jesus was crucified the major difference but according to Luke and by the way the vast majority of biblical scholars New Testament textual critics do not believe Jesus actually said this and it's in brackets in critical editions of the New Testament anyway it's there in brackets Jesus is on the cross and he says father forgive them for they know not what they do we hear that all the time every Jesus movie I've ever seen but he didn't really say that according to the vast majority of Christian exeges that doesn't mean that Jesus is not a merciful person of course he is but we never hear anything like that ascribed to the prophet Muhammad and these are sound traditions for his enemies with blood streaming down his face when he's in a position of power when he's in a position to exact vengeance he forgives them and this is because of the great prophetic and Quranic imperative the Quran says repel evil with beauty repel evil with beauty push back evil with beauty this is what the Quran says he never returned an evil for an evil the Quran says no one knows the man better than his wife don't ask my wife so then it says I can't read this whole thing because it's too long I'm running out of time here it says that his head is like gold his locks are wavy and black as a raven so going back to the shamanic literature of Imam Ali he describes the prophet's hair he says the prophet's hair was not curly nor straight but something between that it was wavy and extremely black now it's very interesting the word orave here in the Hebrew is usually always translated into English every translation I've seen is translated as raven black as a raven there was a bible translation done by Fenton around 1920 called the holy bible in modern English because this word orave it appears in another passage in the plural first kings chapter 17 verse 4 where God he commands Elijah to go into the wilderness and he says that the haoravim the plural of orave are going to feed you there so Fenton he translated that as Arabs the Arabs are going to feed you there so it's very very interesting that at possibly one of the esoteric levels of meaning of the Shirah Hashireem his hair is black and wavy kaorave as an Arab continues I don't have time to go through the entire thing how much time do I have left two more hours thank you just I don't want to go over the time because I want to be fair to everyone I think we're okay so verse 15 the second half of verse 15 that I want to talk about it says his countenance is like Lebanon B'khur is a passive principle B'khur it's chosen like the sea like the sea like the sea like the sea like the sea B'khur it's chosen like the cedars he's chosen so one of the titles again of the prophet Muhammad is al-Mustafa al-Mukhtar al-Mujtaba these are titles the chosen one the elect one the one separated out the chosen one things like that and it's also very interesting because the chosen one of God is also described in the book of Isaiah chapter 42 the chosen one of God now when Muslims read the gospel of Matthew it's very interesting for me to read Matthew because Matthew according to Matthew all of these expectations prophetological and messianic expectations all of them are fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ and sometimes he'll quote something and he won't justify his reason why why is this referring to Jesus so Matthew in chapter 12 I think in chapter 13 he'll quote from Isaiah 42 and say this is what Isaiah said behold my chosen one whom my soul delights but he'll misquote the passage actually he's my beloved but the satuagint doesn't actually say my beloved but he added that and at times he'll quote something from the Nabeem the prophets that is simply not found anywhere in the Nabeem for example in Matthew chapter 2 he shall be called a Nazarene that's nowhere to be found in any book inside or outside in the Old Testament or in the pseudopigraphera or the apographera wherever you book so it's very interesting so Muslims will say possibly as Yoda once said a prophecy misapplied perhaps he uses very bad syntax Yoda is a Hebrew root name so anyway Isaiah 42 is very interesting I'll go back to Song of Songs in a minute but it says and it's a description of the Edid Adonai the slave of God behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen one in whom I sold the lights and it goes on to describe him he will not raise his voice in the marketplace and this is exactly how Aisha again who knows the man better than the wife describes the prophet she says the prophet did not raise his voice in the marketplace he never raised his voice let alone raised his hand so then it continues and now I'm going to wrap it up here God willing my inclusion ramblings will answer and then it says in verse 16 this is an interesting verse it says his mouth is sweet he is altogether lovely this is my beloved this is my friend this is my friend oh daughters of Jerusalem oh daughters of Jerusalem one more time in all of Muhammad in all of Muhammad so Muhammad is the name of the prophet peace be upon him so Muslims will say and this is poetry so poetry is very seldom direct it's indirect, it's elliptical this is the nature of poetry so there's an echo of this beloved given in the verse it's spelled exactly as the Arabic menkhet mandelet mimha mimdal mimha mimdal so this is very interesting now Muslims will also say that other places in the Hebrew Bible they also contain sort of an elliptical message, Muslims don't believe that Jesus was crucified and it used to be when a Muslim or Christian would engage in dialogue people don't like to work debates so I'm going to avoid it polemical discourse lively talk the Christian would say to the Muslim why don't you believe Jesus was crucified Matthew, Mark, Luke and John multiply attested what's wrong with you and the Muslim would say what it's the Quran they didn't kill him they didn't crucify him they didn't believe in it and that was before 1945 when non-Khamadi was discovered and now we have evidence that there were Christian denominations that predate the formation of the New Testament canon that certainly did not believe that Jesus was crucified but at the time Muslims don't know this Muslims also don't know Hebrew so they don't know what the book of Psalms says chapter 20 verse 6 it says what I know I know I have known that God saves his Messiah he shall hear him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand Yeshua it's on the form of a passive part of the book a shortened form of Yahushua Yeshua means saved by God that's what his name means often times in the names of prophets you have a secret the name Muhammad means the most praised one which is very interesting because every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year of every decade of every century every nanosecond 24 hours a day until the day of judgment somebody is sending blessings of peace upon the prophet going on right now because there's Muslims always praying and in our prayer we do what the prophet Muhammad and on the progeny of Muhammad and on the progeny of who else the prophet Abraham and his progeny this is going on 24 seven around the clock until the day of judgment his name is Muhammad so I always tell Muslims nobody on earth can ever compromise that can ever lessen the rank of the prophet by writing something making some stupid movie in a garage it's like the poet said it's like dogs barking at the moon is the moon affected as it traverses the majestic sky by dogs on earth barking at it it doesn't even hear it it's not affected by it barking at the moon and for us on earth it's just white noise it's just annoying and the Quran says that you're going to hear much from other people much from other people that's going to really bother you so what's our response when this is the response of Quran gives but if you show patience and self constraint means consciousness of God and patience that is the determining factor in all affairs this is by order of the Quran the prophet peace be upon him they used to make fun of him during his time they used to physically abuse him they used to revile him in their poetry the companions were and these are desert Arabs so they have a hot temperament so they said we have to take vengeance they made up a name for the prophet they used the opposite of his name instead of Muhammad they called him the least praiseworthy and they told us to the prophet they said this is what they're saying about you the prophet said who is Muhammad and he kind of laughed it off and they started laughing with him who cares what people are saying the Quran says the Quran says God himself is sending blessings of peace on the prophet Muhammad God himself forget about what we're doing 24-7 who is God the sustainer of the heavens and the earth Allah Allah himself sends blessings of peace upon the prophet who is Allah the God of Abraham Jesus says according to the Pashita translation of the New Testament in Matthew 5.9 blessed are those who make peace they shall be called the children of Allah this is what it says in the Syriac children in the sense not in the literal sense Muslims don't give teaches them the lords our father who art in heaven what does that mean it means he's our lord he's our sustainer he's our cherisher so the Quran says that God himself is sending blessings of peace upon the prophet Muhammad if this is true and if we really believe that as Muslims what can some fool do by making some video or drawing a cartoon nothing absolutely nothing um thank you this is a bit controversial but sometimes some controversial questions can shed some light how does Islam how does Islamic faith define infidels are other people of the book used Christians consider infidels so yeah I think that was a Latin word created by the Roman Catholic Church although that is true so the word in Arabic is kafir and kafir literally means a farmer what does that have to do with infidelity have to do with farming you see the farmer he takes a seed and covers it over he hides it so the Quran describes a true kafir a true infidel or a non-believer it says do not clothe the truth with falsehood nor distort the truth while you have knowledge of the truth while you have knowledge of the truth so someone who is a kafir we have to be very careful as Muslims when we throw terminology around use the word haram this person is a kafir you see there is a difference between someone who is a kafir as a legal distinction or a state of distinction in a Muslim country you're the Muslim where you're not that's in the legal sense but the faith sense that's ultimately only known by Allah SWT that's known by God so many of our theologians the dominant opinion amongst our theologians is not so much black and white I use Imam Ghazadi again as my model my core theologian who says that in order for infidelity to be established the person must be for criteria he says the person must be an adult they must have sound intellect they must have sound senses and the prophetic summons reach that person in a good form and then they reject it a prophetic summons either from Jesus or Moses or Muhammad peace be upon all of them so for example what if you were born and nodding him in the 4th century and all you know about is after that I appreciate him coming a little bit later but anyway let's say 11th century and all you know about Muslims is they're infidels who have taken the holy land and they're slaughtering babies in the streets of Jerusalem and that's all you know about Muslims then many Muslim theologians will say well the prophetic summons did not reach that person in a good form so you cannot call people kafir right we have to be very very careful the Muslim does not have a personal guarantee of paradise I've been condemned to hell many times by people of different religions by those many of them say you're going to hell you know that about me? I know for certain burn in hell really wow that's amazing judge not less you be judged right is John so we don't have a personal guarantee please be upon him says whoever witnesses to that declaration of faith will enter paradise it doesn't say Ali from San Ramon is going to go to Jannah I don't have a personal guarantee it's only a personal guarantee then what happens we start to act irresponsibly I have 2 girls if you're good we're going to go to Disneyland in December oh yes so she tries she strives but if I tell the other one I say we're going to go to Disneyland and do it everyone you got that guarantee then probably she will be a little lax on her so we don't have a personal guarantee so the prophet peace be upon him he said be between hope and faith wear the two sandals of hope and faith don't be so hopeful in God start to delude yourself and become judgmental and don't be so no I'm sorry hope and faith hope and what's the other word fear, hope and fear and don't be so fearful of God that you start going into despair the Quran says in an imperative you are not allowed to despair of the mercy of God it is as forbidden as eating pork and drinking alcohol and committing adultery to be in despair oh how can God forgive me and my terrible person God forgives if you make tashuba there's a beautiful happy for the prophet peace be upon him after one of the military expeditions there was a battle and this woman was running around frantic she had lost her infant son little toddler could barely crawl around and this was in front of some of the companions and then the prophets and then the woman she saw her son came up and started to hug him and breastfeed him and the prophet said do you see that woman and they said yes and the prophet said can you imagine that she would take her child and throw him in a fire can you imagine her doing that and they said by God no and the prophet said God is more merciful to his servants than this woman is to her son God is more merciful he said these are God's attributes in the Qur'an he is the most merciful the root word here is which is a Hebrew word also which means the womb of a mother where the fetus is enclosed there's a beautiful analogy here God is more merciful to his servants than the purest type of love on earth which is the love of a mother for her son but again it's not black and white it's not Kaffir Muslim we're not allowed to judge if we carefully throw these terms around God is the ultimate judge