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6.4 The emigration (The
Hijra)
"God (his guidance) came from Teman, and the Holy One
from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and
the earth was full of his praise."
Habakkuk 3:3
The wilderness of Paran is where Abraham's wife Hagar
and his eldest son Ishmael, the father of the Arabs, settled
(Genesis 21:21) in the Arabian desert. Specifically, Makkah
(Please see Map 1, page 440). Makkah is, of course, the
capital of Islam in Arabia and the birthplace of Muhammad
(pbuh). Indeed, it was Hagar and Ishmael themselves who
transformed a barren patch of desert into what is now the
capital of Islam, "Makkah." Mount Paran is the chain of
mountains in that same region which the Arabs call the
"Sarawat mountains."
According to J. Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible,
Teman is an Oasis just North of Madinah. Muhammad (pbuh)
did indeed come from Paran. About 622 AD, he and his
followers were forced to migrate from Makkah (Paran) to
Madinah (Teman) where he spent the rest of his prophetic
life teaching it's people the guidance of God (the Qur'an).
These two cities, Makkah and Madinah, are such critical
importance to a Muslims faith that every single chapter of
the Qur'an is classified as either "Makkia" (revealed in
Makkah) or "Madaniyyah" (revealed in Madinah).
When someone describes someone as having "come from" a
certain town, this is usually interpreted as meaning that
that person was born in that town. In other words, that town
is this man's "home town." However, when one reads the words
"God came from
," the meaning is quite different. It is
quite obvious that the verse is not implying that a given
location is God's "home town." Jews, Christians, and Muslims
all affirm that God Almighty is Omnipresent* and
Eternal. So, if this is the case, then we can not say that
God Himself "came" or "went" to a given place since that
would imply that there are times and places where God's
knowledge and supervision is NOT present, and thus, it is
possible to hide from God since I could go to a place where
God has not "come" and is not present in His knowledge.
So if God is Omnipresent (present in knowledge everywhere
at the same time), then we begin to realize that it is not
God "Himself" that is "coming" from a given place, rather it
is God's guidance and mankind's recognition of God that is
being established in a given location. In other words, in a
place where the true worship of God and the true knowledge
of His message were absent, God blesses them with knowledge
of Himself and His message. In this way, they become
"acquainted" with God, and "meet" or "learn of" Him. In this
fashion, although God Almighty was ever present in His
knowledge, with them and all of His creation, they are only
now beginning to comprehend His presence.
Once we understand that the people of Mount Paran and
Teman are described as becoming aware of the message of God
and His guidance, and we realize that Paran and Teman are to
Islam what Jerusalem is to Judaism or Christianity, then we
begin to see the emergence of a prophesy of the coming of
the final message of God. This is because Muhammad (pbuh)
first received the prophethood of Islam in the cave of
"Hira'a" located in the highest part of the mountains of
Paran (see section 6.2). Jesus (pbuh) never in his life
traveled to Paran nor Teman. Muhammad, however, was born in
Paran, he became the prophet of Islam there, and it was the
capital of the Islamic religion in that day and this. No man
from Paran, throughout history, has had his praise sung in
so many nations as has Muhammad (pbuh). The name "Muhammad"
itself literally means in Arabic "The praised one." Through
the teachings of Muhammad, God is now being praised by over
one billion Muslims around the world.
However, if we were to look more closely at this verse we
would find even greater detail of this coming message. The
word which has been translated here as "Holy One" is the
Hebrew word "qadowsh" {kaw-doshe'} which has the multiple
meaning of "sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, set apart." In
this specific verse the translators judgment drove them to
translate it as "Holy One" (notice the capitals), thus, they
understood this verse to simply mean "God came from Teman
and God came from mount Paran." However, if this was the
intended reading then why did God choose to use the word
"God" in one place and "Holy One" in the other? There must
be a reason for this specific wording. Actually, there
is.
If we were to read Exodus 19:6 we would find that the
same translators of the Bible have translated this same
Hebrew word as "holy nation." In Exodus 29:31 it is
translated as "holy place," and in Zec. 14:5 they translated
it as "saints." Thus, we see that according to the witness
of these same translators of the Bible, this verse of
Habakkuk 3:3 could (or more correctly, should) be translated
as "and the saint from mount Paran," or "and the
holy one from mount Paran" (no capitals). This is
important, why?
If we were to accept everything these Biblical
translators are teaching us and to accept that the word
"qadowsh" can be translated as "Holy One," or as "holy one,"
or as "saint," or as "holy," etc. based upon the meaning
most appropriate for the chosen verse, then we realize that
although it would be completely appropriate to interpret the
coming of Islam from the mountains of Makkah as "the Holy
One" coming from "mount Paran," still, it would be more
precise to say that "the holy one" (or "the saint") came
from "mount Paran." This is because Muhammad (pbuh) was born
on Paran (Makkah) and first received the message of Islam in
the mountains of Makkah.
So why does the first part of this verse say "God came
from Teman" and not "The Holy One came from Teman"? Well,
the reason for this is that Islam was indeed first revealed
to Muhammad (pbuh) in Makkah, however, he and his followers
remained persecuted and in constant fear of death from the
pagans of Arabia while they resided in Makkah (see chapter
10). This continued for a period of thirteen years. During
this period, the Muslims were beaten, starved, tortured, and
killed. This situation was hardly conducive of the Muslims
openly preaching the message of God to all of mankind. For
this reason, the knowledge of the persecution that one must
endure upon acceptance of Islam prevented many from openly
accepting it or preaching it to others.
However, this all changed in the beginning of the
fourteenth year. That is when God Almighty commanded
Muhammad (pbuh) to emigrate with his companions to Teman
(Madinah). Although the pagans escalated their persecution
of the Muslims into all-out warfare at this point, still,
within the boundaries of the city of Madinah they had begun
to enjoy a measure of freedom and autonomy. This freedom
manifested itself in their ability to not only preach the
message of God within the city itself, but they also began
to send delegations to the surrounding cities inviting them
to Islam. In other words, the message of Islam did not truly
begin it's "global" phase until it reached "Teman" or
Madinah. This is why the verse says "God came from Teman,
and the holy one from mount Paran" In fact, just as the
Christian calendar starts with the presumed date of the
birth of Jesus (pbuh), so does the Islamic "Hijra" calendar
start with the year in which the Muslims emigrated to
Madinah.
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