. J ; ; ;J; : ,;I•; (cont.)

However, the others who stayed around the Prophet (peace be upon him), such as Abu Huraira, were told shortly afterwards that it was the Angel Gabriel who had asked those questions. 2 Then he [the Prophet (peace be upon him)] said, "O Umar, do you know who the questioner was?" In many different narrations of the hadith, it is clear that the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself was not aware of the true identity of the 1 Cf., al-Qaari, vol. 1, p. 63. 2 Al-Qadhaah, pp. 20-21. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi questioner until after the angel had departed. In the narration of Abu Furwah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "By the One who sent Muhammad with the truth, I was not more aware of who he was than any man among you. [I didn't know] that he was Gabriel." In the hadith of Abu Amr it states that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Glory be to Allah, that was Gabriel who came to teach the people their religion. By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, he never came to me before except that I recognized him, except for this time." The narration from al-Taimi is similar and states that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not know who he was until he departed. 1 "It was [the Angel] Gabriel who came to teach you your religion ( Deen)." Commenting on these words, Ibn Uthaimin stated, [He came to teach the religion] although it was the Prophet (peace be upon him), in reality, who was teaching the religion. However, the Prophet (peace be upon him) called Gabriel the teacher. This is because he was the one who asked and the teaching was due to him. One can conclude from this that the one who is the cause of something is similar to the one who does the direct act. When it comes to capital offenses, the jurists have derived the legal principle: The cause of the act is similar to the one who directly performs the act. For that reason, the Prophet (peace be upon him) called Gabriel a teacher because he was the cause of the teaching of the religion by the Prophet (peace be upon him), through the responses to his questions. Second, if a person asks a question to which he knows the answer and he only asks so that the people would know the answer to that question, he has become a teacher.2 The Angel Gabriel came to teach the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his Companions the deen. This deen or way of life is actually the religion of Allah. Therefore, for one's deen to be correct, it must be built upon what Allah has revealed, through revelation, by sending the Angel or from the words of His messenger (peace be upon him). If any Muslim wants to know his deen he must turn to these sources and he must not tum to other non-Islamic sources to get guidance and understanding of the religion. Allah says in the Quran, ..,. ,,,. J..e ,,, / ॺ / J. .... ञ B\ . / '". '" ij /} .;,1 9I Ƿ ट5 . & I / Ji 'L '" ":\ / / ठif..rr   ; G -  ৄ er "Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord. There is none worthy of worship but Him. And tum away from the polytheists" (al-Anaam 106). If one is supposed to tum away from them and have nothing to do with them, also one would not go to them for guidance and inspiration. The disbelievers in 1 For these different narrations, see ibn Hajr, Fath, vol. 1 , p. 1 70. 2 Ibn Uthaimeen, Majmooat, vol. 3, p. 222. Hadith #2: The Hadith of Jibreel general, those who turn away from what Allah has revealed, only have some small knowledge of the apparent aspects of this world but they actually have no knowledge of the reality of life and man's purpose here. Hence, they can offer no real guidance to anyone. Allah says, ti ,J .., ,.,, ;:;:i ,,; .., ,.. .!.,U 1S ୊ L;;..u I ÉÊI _\ Қ; ,:.Jj G .?¦ JI 1;; छ Jज झt; / > ; ,,,. ,,. "' lS' / 0ӷtӸj "Therefore stay away [O Muhammad] from him who turns away from Our Reminder [this Quran] and desires nothing but the life of this world. That is what they could reach of knowledge. Verily, your Lord is He who knows best who goes astray from His path, and He knows best him who receives guidance" (al-Najm 29-30). The Religion (Deen) The Prophet (peace be upon him) described what the Angel taught as being the Deen or religion. In Arabic, deen is a word that means any creed that is followed, any way of life that is implemented openly and inwardly or any ideology that one follows. 1 Its root implies to submit to something and accept it as the authority or rule.