Originally Posted by samah12

I am prepared to stick my neck out here and incur the wrath of my fellow Muslims. This is an argument I have repeatedly with other Muslims.

Please read again the verses that Karimeldib posted.

Chapter 5 verses 55-57: Those who establish regular prayer - surely christians and jews establish regular prayer? I do not imagine as a practicing Christian or Jew you would mock other religions (of course you would not agree with them but I doubt you would mock).

Chapter 60 verse 4: "unless ye believe in Allah and Him alone". Of course I can't make an argument with this and I do not agree with your belief that Jesus (pbuh) is the son of God but I imagine as a Christian you think Jesus (pbuh) is a part of God and you are therefore only believeing in God?

I am ashamed that I do not have my Quran on holiday with me to give you an accurate quote so I hope Allah will forgive me for paraphrasing. In the Quran Allah tells us that had He wished He could have made us all one nation and one religion and on the day of judgement He will tell us the difference between us. Allah therefore wanted us to be different nations, colours, religions, etc so why should we mere mortals use this as a means of hatred? When Muslims wish to make the argument that we should not accept each other they will use the same verses from the Quran, as Christians use small parts of the bible and Jews small parts of the Torah to make their argument.

Please believe me that the Quran does teach tolerance when read as a whole and the prophet Mohammad (pbuh) taught tolerance during his time as a prophet. Any religious book can be used by people to make their argument, if they just quote small pieces but Allah intended us to be different and it is my personal belief that when we have to answer for our actions at the end of our time here, how we treated people that are different from ourselves will be a big issue. Only Allah can judge us for our beliefs and actions.

I believe that there is only one God, Allah and that Mohammad (pbuh) was his final prophet. As a muslim I cover my hair and wear a dress that covers all of my body, I never drink alcohol (it would lead me to forget Allah) and I do numerous other things to please Allah. It is my choice and my right to believe this and my duty to defend my religion, as it is your choice and right to believe in Christianity and Brother Karimeldib's right to have his beliefs but my personal opinion is that we can discuss, learn about others beliefs and be tolerant whilst not losing anything of our ourselves or our beliefs.

I truly hope I have not offended anyone, from any religion, with these views but it is a subject I feel so strongly about.