Read
the true story of
"Lies On a Pumpkin?"
Bismillah
Rahman Raheem
This was written by Sheik Yusuf Estes while he was in Cairo,
Egypt in July of 2001.
Al
Hamdulilah Rabbil Alameen Was salat was salam ala Rasool al
Kareem Maa ba'd:
Salam Alaykum
Wa Rahmatulah:
Something just happened to cause me to sit
down and tell a story that I have kept to myself for a long
time. 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...
How
could Sheik Yusuf ever endorse 'miracles' or 'karamat'?
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.
So
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]
