Hello,

I am a Christian researching the truth-claims of Islam and desire to learn more about what Islam teaches (I think I’ve come to the right place!). To begin, can anyone tell me if the book, “The Religion of Truth” by Abdul Rahman Ben Hammad Al-Omar is a recommended book for learning more about Islam? If so, I have a few question that this book brings up.

Thank you!

Heya reasonable, welcome to the forums!
I'm afraid I've never read that book, but maybe someone else here has?..

If you like, though, maybe you could just ask the questions you have about the book? Unless we wouldn't be able to understand without having read it..

Yeah, good idea - doesn't seem like too many have read this. No responses, anyway. One question was this - the book says that Muhammed was the last prophet. What about Mahdi? Is Mahdi not going to be a 'prophet?'

Yes, Muhammad is indeed the last prophet, the Mahdi is just a righteous man, who happens to be a descendant of the prophet, that will appear in the future. He will be joined by Jesus and will restore justice and peace on earth and defeat all evils.

Here's a more detailed explanation about the mahdi:

"There are more than one authentic hadith indicating that the Mahdi, may Allah be pleased with him, will appear at the end of time. His appearance is one of the portents of the Last Day. Among the hadiths are the following:

1- Abu Sa'eed Al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, reports that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "At the end of the time of my Ummah, the Mahdi will appear. Allah will grant him rain, the earth will bring forth its fruits, he will give a lot of money, cattle will increase and the Muslim Ummah will become great. He will rule for seven or eight years."

2- `Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, says: "The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "The Mahdi is one of us and a member of my family. Allah will guide him in a single night." (Reported by Ahmad)

3-Abu Sa'eed Al-Khudri states that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon, said: "The Mahdi is of my lineage, with a high forehead and a long, thin, curved nose. He will fill the earth with fairness and justice as it was filled with oppression and injustice, and he will rule for seven years." (Reported by At-Tirmidhi)

4- Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, says that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘‘Jesus, son of Mary, will descend, and their leader, the Mahdi, will say, 'Come and lead us in prayer.’ But he will say, ‘No, one of them should lead them as an honor to this Ummah from Allah." (Reported by Muslim)"

source

Man, that's awesome, thank you. You also answered a number of other questions about Mahdi. Thank you.

Second question this book raises: He says there are 100 levels of Heaven the least of which is 70 times greater than any wealth and luxury a king could have on this earth. What type of person, then, would attain to the least of the levels? The non-practicing Muslim perhaps? Or even, as a devout and pious Christian, would I be able to enter at least one of the lowest levels?

With an answer, if possible, could you please quote the Quran on this matter (which I need to get a copy of, too)? Thank you.

No problem. :]

The lowest level of paradise will be for the people who believed in the oneness of Allah, but were tempted by this world. So they completely believed in the message of islam, Allah, the prophet, etc. but they had lots of sins. They would spend a certain amount of time in hell, and then be admitted to paradise.

Muslims believe that when the prophet muhammad came with the quran, all the books previous religions before him (Judaism and Christianity) were annulled, because they had been changed by humans, and were no longer in their original divine form. So a christian or jew must follow islam to enter heaven, since it is the last and only unchanged message from Allah. The prophet said: "Anyone of this Ummah, whether a Jew or a Christian who heard about me and died without believing in what was revealed to me, he will be among the people of the Hell-Fire"

Here's an authentic hadith about the very last person to enter paradise:
"Reported in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet (salAllahu `alaihi wa sallam) said:
Some of the people will stay in Hell (be destroyed) because of their (evil) deeds, and some will be cut or torn by the hooks (and fall into Hell) and some will be punished and then relieved. When Allah (subhanu wa ta'ala) has finished His Judgments among the people, He will take whomever He will out of Hell through His Mercy.
He will then order the angels to take out of the Fire all those who used to worship none but Allah from among those whom Allah wanted to be merciful to and those who testified (in the world) that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah. The angels will recognize them in the Fire by the marks of prostration (on their foreheads), for the Fire will eat up all the human body except the mark caused by prostration as Allah has forbidden the Fire to eat the mark of prostration. They will come out of the (Hell) Fire, completely burnt and then the water of life will be poured over them and they will grow under it as does a seed that comes in the mud of the torrent.
Then Allah will finish the judgments among the people, and there will remain one man facing the (Hell) Fire and he will be the last person among the people of Hell to enter Paradise. He will say, 'O my Lord! Please turn my face away from the fire because its air has hurt me and its severe heat has burnt me.'
So he will invoke Allah in the way Allah will wish him to invoke, and then Allah will say to him, 'If I grant you that, will you then ask for anything else?'
He will reply, 'No, by Your Power, (Honor) I will not ask You for anything else.'
He will give his Lord whatever promises and covenants Allah will demand.
So Allah will turn his face away from Hell (Fire). When he will face Paradise and will see it, he will remain quiet for as long as Allah will wish him to remain quiet, then he will say, 'O my Lord! Bring me near to the gate of Paradise.'
Allah will say to him, 'Didn't you give your promises and covenants that you would never ask for anything more than what you had been given? Woe on you, O Adam's son! How treacherous you are!'
He will say, 'O my lord,' and will keep on invoking Allah till He says to him, 'If I give what you are asking, will you then ask for anything else?'
He will reply, 'No, by Your (Honor) Power, I will not ask for anything else.'
Then he will give covenants and promises to Allah and then Allah will bring him near to the gate of Paradise. When he stands at the gate of Paradise, Paradise will be opened and spread before him, and he will see its splendor and pleasures whereupon he will remain quiet as long as Allah will wish him to remain quiet, and then he will say, 'O my Lord! Admit me into Paradise.'
Allah will say, 'Didn't you give your covenants and promises that you would not ask for anything more than what you had been given?' Allah will say, 'Woe on you, O Adam's son! How treacherous you are!'
The man will say, 'O my Lord! Do not make me the most miserable of Your creation,' and he will keep on invoking Allah till Allah will laugh because of his sayings, and when Allah will laugh because of him.
Allah will say to him, 'Enter Paradise,' and when he will enter it, Allah will say to him, 'Wish for anything.' So he will ask his Lord, and he will wish for a great number of things, for Allah Himself will remind him to wish for certain things by saying, "(Wish for) so-and-so.'
When there is nothing more to wish for, Allah will say, 'This is for you, and its equal (is for you) as well.'
Abu Hurairah said, "That man will be the last person of the people of Paradise to enter Paradise."

Here's a link that describes what I talked about some more:
PARADISE

As for verses from the quran, it doesn't go into details about the different levels of paradise much, but here is a description of paradise in general that quotes many many verses: DESCRIPTION OF PARADISE

Hmmmm... interesting. Thank you. So what does a Muslim have to do to go directly to Paradise and not spend a little time in Hell?

Well first off, he has to be a muslim, of course. When he says the shahadah (testimony of faith), he has to fulfill these 7 conditions:

1. Al-`Ilm (Knowledge of the meaning of the shahadah, its negation and affirmation)
2. Al-Yaqeen (Certainty – perfect knowledge of it that counter-acts suspicion and doubt)
3. Al-Ikhlaas (Sincerity which negates shirk)
4. Al-Sidq (Truthfulness that permits neither falsehood nor hypocrisy)
5. Al-Mahabbah (Love of the shahadah and its meaning, and being happy with it)
6. Al-Inqiad (Submission to its rightful requirements, which are the duties that must be performed with sincerity to Allah (alone) seeking His pleasure)
7. Al-Qubool (Acceptance that contradicts rejection).

And then he must try his best to do all the good deeds he can, and avoid bad deeds as much as he can. He must give to charity, be kind to his neighbors, perform prayers, etc, and must not backbite, steal, be rude to his parents, etc. On the day of judgement there will be a scale, one side will contain the good deeds, and one will contain the bad. If the good deeds weigh more, he will go straight to heaven. If that bad deeds weigh more, Allah will either forgive him, or he will spend a certain amount of time in hellfire. Eventually though, all true muslims, who honestly believed that Allah was one, will enter paradise.. Although of course, one would try to get into heaven sooner rather than later.

lol... true! Continuing the questions, though... how is forgiveness obtained? I mean, is it arbitrary or is there reasoning behind it. I read somewhere that 'Allah will have mercy on whom he will have mercy..." But what is the reasoning behind the forgiveness? Allah is just, is he not? If so, then shouldn't sin be punished for all and not only whom 'he chooses?' That doesn't seem like operating in justice. Forgiveness, yes. Mercy, yes. Justice... not really. In fact, aren't justice and mercy mutually exclusive? i.e.: one is getting what you deserve (justice) and the other (mercy) is NOT getting what you deserve. How do you reconcile the two? How can Allah be both just and merciful according to the standards of judgment which you just laid out for me?

^ Peace !

i thought about this question myself before


you see i think that Allaah knows best, naturally he knows our insides, our desires, our intentions, our achievements actions and fruitions. He knows it all, therefore he knows to what extent we deserve mercy and to what extent we deserve punishment. Yes Allah will forgive whom he desires and wills but his will is always in contrast to his mercy.


I hope that at least makes it a little clear,



and jizakAllaahu khair sis crayon , beautiful answers



Assalamu Alaikum

[quote=IbnAbdulHakim;961192 He knows it all, therefore he knows to what extent we deserve mercy and to what extent we deserve punishment.[/QUOTE]

Thank you for taking the time to tackle this. And it helps... but not wholly. What you said here makes sense... but if Allah is just, then he must punish sin, no? Simply forgiving it is not just. You would not consider a judge in this life just if he simply dismissed a murderer from the court because the murderer said he was sorry. That would not be just. Justice demands payment for the sin. Is not our sin in this life the same? So then it is with that understanding that I asked how Allah can be both just and merciful? Where is the justice if he is merciful and forgives us?

Bottom line: on what basis can he forgive us and still be just?



(Again, thank you all for your time and patience with me on these questions)

Peace !

on the basis that we earned that forgiveness through sincerity and actions known only to Allaah.

Allah would not unjustly forgive us, and understanding this will help you realise your answer...

In Chapter 6, verse 12, God repeats his law of Grace and Mercy for mankind again. The literal meaning of the words is: God has written upon Himself (has made obligatory on Him).

Again in Chapter 7, verse 156 God repeats “His law of Mercy and Grace” in the following words:
“With My chastisement do I afflict whom I will – but My grace overspreads everything: and so I shall confer it on those who are conscious of Me and spend in charity and who believe in Our messages.”

In an authentic tradition of the prophet, God says of Himself: “Verily, My Grace and Mercy outstrips My wrath.”


Allah swt is the best judge of whom is deserving of what.. and it is certainly a concept beyond our scope....
mercy that is given this world is 1% of that which he has willed upon himself on the day of judgement.. (if I am wrong on this someone more knowledgeable pls correct me)

Yes thats true, if you sin aginst yourself then Allah can forgive if you repent sincerely, but if you sin aginst someone else then you will have to ask the person for forgiveness first in order to be forgiven fully, otherwise if Allah wills he will punish you in this world in order to prevent the much worse punishment in hell

But all this depends on your intentions, your will, whether you repent sincerely etc

Don't worry God will deal justly with everyone on the day of judgement

Thank you guys... moving on w/ more questions that arise in my mind from the reading of this book:

The following quote is found on p. 45:

What are your thoughts about this? BTW, this book is "printed and published by Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Da'Wah and Guidance. Kingdom of Suadi Arabia" Does that mean anything to anyone?

Thanks!