Miscellaneous
- 8
Religious Tolerance
Critic:-
A little research using your search engine
will show that it is commonly accepted that the "no compulsion in
religion" verse is not only early, but abrogated; the acceptance is so
common that authors do not trouble to give authorities. Traditional Muslim
scholars do not hesitate to affirm that the verse is abrogated.
Comment:-
That is not a belief of main stream Muslims.
The statement seems to be based on either ignorance or deliberate perversity.
The verse is not an early one and cannot be
abrogated even if was. There is no verse in the Quran that abrogates it.
It is well known that all kinds of religious
groups lived quite peacefully for centuries in Muslim countries while in places
such as Spain
where rule was taken over from Muslims by Christians persecution removed all
Muslims.
The few Muslims who thought it was abrogated
had a particular interpretation of it. They thought that it meant that fighting
in defence of Islam was forbidden. But even they do not claim that it means
conversion by force because that is impossible seeing that the Quran tells us
in several places that it is for God to convert and not man.
The idea that the verse was abrogated is utterly
impossible in view of the following and many more verses:-
6:108. But had Allah pleased, they would
not have associated aught with Him. We have not made you a keeper over them,
nor are you for them a warder (or responsible for them).
4:84. Fight, then, in the way of Allah;
impose nothing on anyone else but on thyself , and urge on (or rouse,
encourage) the believers.
6:104 "Proofs have come unto you from
your Lord, so whoso sees, it is for his own good, and whoso is blind is blind
to his own hurt. And I am not a keeper over you."
6:109. Revile (or abuse) not those who
call on other than Allah, for then they may abuse Allah openly in their
ignorance. Thus We make seemly to every nation their deeds. But unto their Lord
is their return, and He will inform them of the truth of what they used to do.
22:67. Unto every nation have We given
sacred rites which they are to perform; so let them not then dispute about the
matter, but summon you unto your Lord; verily, you (Muhammad) indeed follow
right guidance.
5:48. And unto you (Muhammad) have We
revealed the Book in truth, verifying what was before it, and preserving it.
Judge then between them by what Allah has revealed, and follow not their lusts
(prejudices, fantasies), turning away from what is given to you of the truth.
For each of you have We appointed a Law and a traced out Path. Had Allah
pleased He would have made you one nation, but that He may try you by that
which He has given you. Therefore, vie with one another in virtue. Unto Allah
will you all return, and He will then inform you concerning that wherein you
dispute.
5:105. O you who believe! You have charge
of (or guardianship of) your own souls; he who errs can do you no hurt if you
are rightly guided. Unto Allah will you all return, and He will declare to you
the truth of that which you did.
6:160. Verily, those who divided their
religion and became sectarians, you have no concern with them. Their affair is
in the hands of Allah, He will then inform them of that which they used to do.
10:109. Say, "O mankind! There has
come to you the Truth from your Lord, and he who is guided by it, his guidance
is only for his own soul; and he who errs, errs only against it; and I am not a
warder over you."
17:15. He who accepts guidance (or does
right), accepts it only for his own soul: and he who errs, errs only against
it; nor shall one burdened soul bear the burden of another. Nor would We punish
until we had sent a Messenger (with warnings).
And many more
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Corruption of the Gospels
Critic:-
You do not produce a shred of evidence for
the alleged corruption of the Gospels. Muslims always make this allegation, but
NEVER produce any evidence.
A Christian:-
I did not claim that the Gospels have been
corrupted. I am a Christian myself, but my point was that if one considers the
matter from an Islamic perspective, it seems unlikely to me that the actual
texts have been distorted to a point that we no longer have a reliable source
on the dogmatic foundations of Christianity. No one considers the hypothesis of
distortion to account for the discrepancies between Christian and Islamic
theology. I think this sort of corruption is more likely to have occurred
before the Gospels were written, but it is indeed not something that can be
readily proved.
Comment:-
The Quran tells us:-
"And with those who say: Lo! We are
Christians. We made a covenant with them, but they forgot a part of that
whereof they were admonished. Therefore, We have stirred up enmity and hatred
among them till the Day of Resurrection, when Allah will inform them of their
handiwork." 5:14
The main criticism is ignorance,
misinterpretation and distortion of the teachings. As I have shown repeatedly
the NT does not teach the Christian doctrines of the divinity of Jesus, Trinity
or Vicarious Atonement or salvation by faith without deeds.
We read Paul complaining:
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is
not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel
of Christ." Galatians 1:6-7
We also see that there was a controversy
between Paul who had not met Jesus and the disciples who had. Paul writes:-
"But contrariwise, when they saw that
the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the
circumcision was unto Peter. . . they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of
fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
. . But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he
was to be blamed . . .Barnabas was also carried away with their dissimulation.
. .But when I saw that they walked not uprightly, according to the truth of the
gospel, I said unto Peter before them all: If thou, being a Jew, livest after
the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the
Gentiles to live as do the Jews? . . . knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." Acts 2:7-16
Read also what Paul has to say to the Romans.
Romans 1:17-32
However, apart from this and the fact that
the Gospels are written by third parties and contain their opinions besides
selected words of Jesus, and the four Gospels do not always agree with each other,
there have been known additions to the NT that have been removed from the newer
translations.
For instance the story about the woman taken
in adultery who was about to be stoned but was forgiven by Jesus (John 8:5-11)
is taken as condoning adultery in the West. But it does not belong to the NT
and has been taken out. These verses exist in the King James Version but do not
appear in the Revised Version.
1John 5:7 reads:- "For there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost: and these
three are one." was used to Justify the Trinity. But it does not belong to
the OT and has been removed from new translations. Compare the King James
version with the Revised version.
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The Names
Assertion:-
"And He taught Adam all the names,
then showed THEM to the angels, saying: Inform Me of the names of these, if ye
are truthful." 2:31
According to several traditions in both Sunni
and Shi'i collections, the "ones presented" before the angels were
Muhammad, 'Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn (as).
Comment:-
According to some interpretations, that I
believe are more intelligent, the Names refer to the Attributes of Allah and
these refer to the categories of perception and thought by means of which we
perceive and understand creation. We can see objects through our senses, and
our intellect is able to create concepts such as animals, plants, the
atmosphere and various political, commercial and scientific ideas, but notions
such as Truth, Compassion, Justice, Power must be placed in us "a
priori" before we can recognise them in the created world. As such the
verse has a much more profound and universal meaning than is given to it.
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Universality of Islam
Critic:-
You say that the world has been changed
because of Jesus and Muhammad. The world is a different place because of many
other people, Scientists, Conquerors such as Alexander, Statesmen and Religious
leaders such as Buddha. Nothing special about that. None of them needed virgin
birth or claimed it.
Comment:-
Yes, from the Islamic point of view many
Messengers were sent by God to bring about the more profound spiritual changes
- changes in consciousness, conscience andd will - and their various messages
though essentially the same were formulated in different ways and they had
different sets of practices. Each Messenger had his own characteristics.
As for "Virgin Birth", many of us
understand it as referring to spiritual birth rather than physical. The
distinction is found in John 3:3-7. See Quran 19:17-19 and compare Quran 3:59
with Quran 32:7-9.
"And she took a veil from them; and We sent unto her Our Angel
(or spirit); and he assumed for her the semblance of a perfect man. Said she:
Verily, I take refuge in the Merciful One from you, if you are god-fearing.
Said he: I am only a messenger of your Lord to bestow on you a pure son."
19:17-19
The words Jesus
(saw) uttered are regarded as those of God in the same way as the words
uttered by Muhammad (saw) and recorded in the Quran are regarded as those of
God for the same reason that is they came from God through Gabriel. Jesus
spoke as God instructed him:- John 6:38, 57, 7:16, 8:28,
10:37-38, 12:49.
"For I have not spoken of myself; but the
Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I
should speak." John 12:49
Now compare the
following verses as to how Jesus was born and how Adam or man is born:-
"Verily the likeness of Jesus with Allah is as
the likeness of Adam. He created him from earth, then He said to him: BE! And
he was." 3:59
"Who made good everything that He has created,
and He began the creation of man from dust. Then He made his progeny of an
extract, of a fluid held in low esteem. Then He fashioned him and breathed into
him of His spirit, and made for you the faculties of hearing, and sight and
heart; little is it that you give thanks." 32:7-9
The point is that
Jesus was not different from the rest of mankind, except that unlike Adam or
the rest of mankind he did not undergo the Fall. And the following verse
applies:-
"Surely, We have created man in the best of
moulds. Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low; Save those who believe
and act right; for theirs is a reward unfailing." 95:4-6
Critic:-
You agree that the NT has been misunderstood
but you say "It has its good effects." You have also said that
Trinitarian Christianity is a heresy.
Comment:-
Correct. Jesus was a Jew and quoted the OT,
John 10:33-38 refers to Psalms 82:6 Jesus was accused of blasphemy because the
Jews thought he was claiming to be literally God or the Son of God. But Jesus
explains that in the OT (Psalms 82:6) Jews are called gods and children of God,
and Jews do not take this literally. But the phrase "son of God"
refers to those to whom the Word of God came. This is also how Paul understood
it (Romans 8:14) The phrase also applies to other Prophets.
Critic:-
You have also said that "The mission of
Jesus, it seems to me, was to create a transitional religion between the
tribalism of Hebrewism and Universalism of Islam.". So Jesus' mission,
according to you, from the outset, was never more than temporary and scarcely
successful, even at that. But you have no way of explaining the Islamic
acceptance of fantastic claims of virgin birth for such a prophet.
Comment:-
Yes all the Messages of the Messengers
contain something Universal and something specific that relates to the times
and place in which they came. This is true of Hebrewism, Christianity as well
as Islam. But Islam is Universal also in that it recognises that God sent
Messengers to all people and that all such religions are parts of the same
religion. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) explains this by comparing religion to a
house that was built brick by brick. The last brick was laid by him, not the
whole house. But the house already existed as a blue print. The Quran tells
us:-
"When Allah made the covenant with
the prophets, (He said): Behold, what I have given you of the Book and Wisdom.
Then shall come to you a Messenger confirming that which you possess. You shall
believe in him and help him. And He said: Are you resolved and do you take this
covenant as binding on you? They said: We are resolved. And He said: Then bear
witness, for I am witness with you; but they who turns back after this, these
are the miscreants. Seek they other than Allah's religion? When to Him
surrenders whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly,
and unto Him shall they return!" 3:81-83
"And, verily, this your religion is
one religion, and I am your Lord; so keep your duty unto Me. But they (mankind)
have broken their religion between them into sects, each sect rejoicing in its
own tenets." 23:52-53
I have not said that Jesus had a temporary or
unsuccessful effect. On the contrary, his mission did transform the world.
There are steps and stages and the next stage depends on the previous. Layers
of bricks have to be laid on previous layers. Each Messenger had something
unique about them and the way they presented the message was unique. They were
themselves a demonstration of the message.
Critic:-
Where do you get your idea that Islam is
universal, whereas Christianity is not? Is not extending God's invitation to
gentiles as well as Jews "Universalism"? And "Christian
charity" is not limited to other Christians, in contrast to Zakat (which I
believe most scholars limit to recipients in the Muslim community). Surely, by
that measure, Christianity scores higher on the Universalism index?
Comment:-
A study of the Quran will show you that
Charity is much more than Zakat and has a wider application than only towards
Muslims. The order of priority is ones family, Muslims and then others.
Christianity as the name implies is about
Jesus Christ. According to that Salvation is to be gained only through Jesus.
Islam, on the other hand, recognises the religions brought by all Prophets sent
throughout the world. This religion is called Islam not Mohammedanism. It is about
surrender to God and not to or through a particular Messenger. The Quran tells
us:-
"Verily, whether it be of those who
believe, or those who are Jews or Christians or Sabaeans, whoever believes in
Allah and the Last Day and acts aright, they have their reward with their Lord,
and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve." 2:62
That is not what Christianity teaches.
Critic:-
Indeed.
Christianity teaches that the way to salvation is through Jesus. Believe in Jesus
and you'll get eternal life. In Islam, one needs to believe in Allah to get
eternal life. I fail to see why anyone can consider the latter as
"Universal" but not the former.
Comment:-
Strange, that
you cannot understand! In Christianity salvation is through Jesus only, while
Islam recognises all the other Messengers that brought religion to
people throughout the world.
We read:-
"But he answered and said, I am not sent but
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Matthew 15:24
"These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded
them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not. Matthew 10:5
But yes in contrast
to what Christianity teaches, Jesus also said:-
"Not every one that saith unto me Lord, Lord shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven,
but He THAT DOETH THE WILL OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN. Many will say to me
in that Day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophecied in thy name? and in thy name
have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will
I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU: DEPART FROM ME, YE THAT WORK
INIQUITY." Matthew 7:21-23
"And I say unto you, That many shall come from
the east and west, and shall sit
down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 8:11-12
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