Say "Insya-Allah"

I would like to share a story from the book 'In the Footsteps of the Prophet' (written by Tariq Ramadan) that I really like.

From Chapter 6.

The Quraysh were at loss about how to prevent Muhammad's message from spreading further. They decided to send a delegation to Yathrib to ask Jewish dignitaries about the natture and truthfulness of this new Revelation. The Yathrib Jews were known to profess this same idea of the One God, and Muhammad often referred to Moses, their prophet; they were therefore best suited to express an opinion or even to suggest a strategy.

Consulted about the new prophet, the rabbis suggested the people of Mecca should ask him three key questions in order to find out whether what he said was actually revealed or whether he was a fraud. The first question involved the knowledge of a story about a group of young people's exile from their people; the second was about a great traveler who had reached the confines of the universe; the third was a direct request to define ar-ruh (the soul). The Quraysh delegation left, convinced that they now had the means to entrap Muhammad. Back in Mecca, they went to him and asked him the three questions. He replied almost instantly: "I shall answer your questions tomorrow!"

But the next day, the Angel Gabriel did not appear. There was no Revelation. Nor did the angel come the day after, of the next fourteen days. The Quraysh gloated, certain they has at last managed to prove the duplicity of the so-called prophet, who could not answer the rabbis' questions. As for Muhammad, he was sad, and as the days went by, he was increasingly afraid of having been forsaken: without doubting God, he again underwent the experience of self-doubt amplified by his opponents' sneers. Two weeks later, he received a Revelation and an explanation:

Never say of anything, "I shall do that tomorrow," except: "If God so wills," and remember your Lord (Rabb) when you forget, and say "I hope that my Lord will guide me ever closer than this to the right course." (18:23-24)

This revelation once again involved a reproach and a teaching: it reminded the Prophet that his status, his knowledge, and his fate depended on his Rabb, on the One and Sovereign God, and that he must never forget it. This is how one should understand the meaning of the phrase in sha Allah, "if God so wills": it expresses the awareness of limits, the feeling of humility of one who acts while knowing that beyond what he or she can do or say, God alone has the power to make things happen. This is by no means a fatalistic message: it implies not that one should not act but, on the contrary, that one should never stop acting while always being aware in one's mind and heart of the real limits of human power. For the second time, the Prophet was called to account by the Transcendent. Whatever adversity one faces, one's strength and freedom on earth consist in remaining constantly aware of one's dependence on the Creator.

Only later was the Prophet to receive the answers to the three questions he had been asked. The delay was paradoxically to strengthen the believers' conviction and to baffle the Prophet's interlocutors: his initial inability to answer and then the belated communication of Revelation proved that Muhammad was not the author of the Book that was being constituted and that he did actually depend on his Rabb's will.

Phew - I'm so proud of myself because I have persevered at typing this rather long excerpt (if it's by copy & paste, it wouldn't be 'rather long').

Can't wait to read Asbabun Nuzul (published by PTS)!