Tell me about Islam

[bibleblevr]

I am a Christian, and I have some questions about Islam. I Do not see my self converting, but I am an extremely open minded person who loves to hear diverse view points, and If I can discern a truth, I will adopt it into my theology no matter the source.

Here are some questions I have, I wanted to ask real people, not just look on the net, because I know from talking to people who get their info from Google pertaining to Christianity, they end up all sorts of confused.

1 What does it take to go to heaven?

2 Is their a kind of "salvation" In Islam like In Christianity?

3 Is the Bible read by Muslims? I have heard that Islam is a continuation of Christianity, like Christianity is a continuation of Judaism, I understand the Jewish Torah and other religious writing very well, and know much about their culture, because it helps me understand my religion, do you do the same with Christianity?

4 Does God predestine people to hell and heaven in Islam? Is there a concept of free-will?

5 Do you guys believe in a hell?

6 What makes someone righteous before Allah

Those are a few to start out with, thanks in advance for the responses!

[Zafran]

1 - Faith in the one true God - repenting and staying away from all things God has forbidden - Faith should lead people to good action such as fasting,charity and prayer etc.
2 - Yes Jannah or the garden of bliss
3 - we believe in the Injeel (gospel), Torah, Zabur (psalms), the scrolls of Ibrahim (pbuh) and the Quran in there original form - The bible is a collection of 66 or 73 books.
4 - yes there is a concept of free will
5 - Yes
6 - From the Quran translation

Qur'an 2:177
"It is not righteousness
That ye turn your faces toward East or West;
But it is righteousness -
To believe in Allah (The One and Only God)
And the Last Day
And the Angels
And the Book
And the Messengers;
To spend of your substance out of love for Him
For your kin
For orphans
For the needy
For the wayfarer
For those who ask,
And for the ransom of slaves;
To be steadfast in prayer
And practice regular charity;
To fulfil the contracts which ye have made;
And to be firm and patient in pain (or suffering) and adversity
And throughout all periods of panic.
Such are the people of truth the Allah-fearing (God-conscious)"



On the prophets

Quran translation -

[2.136] Say: 'We believe in Allah and that which is sent down to us, and in
what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes; to
Moses and Jesus and the Prophets from their Lord. We do not differentiate
between any of them, and to Him we are submissive (Muslims). '
[2.137] If they believe as you have believed they shall be guided; if they
reject it, they shall surely be in clear dissension. Allah will suffice
you. He is the Hearer, the Knower

[bibleblevr]

1 - Faith in the one true God - repenting and staying away from all things God has forbidden - Faith should lead people to good action such as fasting,charity and prayer etc.

This sounds much like what Christianity teaches so far. If by the grace of God I had faith in his mercy and because of my faith in him, followed his commandments to love God with all my heart mind and soul, and loved others as myself would I go to the garden of bliss?

[bibleblevr]

we believe in the Injeel (gospel), Torah, Zabur (psalms), the scrolls of Ibrahim (pbuh) and the Quran in there original form - The bible is a collection of 66 or 73 books.

What are the scrolls of Ibrahim?

What would happen if part of the Bible contradicted the Quran? would the Quran to precedent, or are these writings harmonious?

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[Zafran]

This sounds much like what Christianity teaches so far. If by the grace of God I had faith in his mercy and because of my faith in him, followed his commandments to love God with all my heart mind and soul, and loved others as myself would I go to the garden of bliss?

Christianity is ultimatley the worship of christ - as muslims we believe that Christ was a prophet of God and not the son of God or divine in any way. There are many similar teachings but there are also differences - the way to salvation being one.

[Zafran]

What are the scrolls of Ibrahim?

What would happen if part of the Bible contradicted the Quran? would the Quran to precedent, or are these writings harmonious?

Its the book given to Abraham pbuh

Quran translation

"87:19 The Books of Abraham and Moses "

The Quran is the last revelation of God and it is the only unchanged book of God - It would take precedent.

[PouringRain]

This sounds much like what Christianity teaches so far.

You will find many teachings in Islam that parallel those found in either Christianity or Judaism. I have written some posts with some of the parallels on a Christian forum in the past.

Are you a unitarian universalist? Your comment earlier about adopting things into your theology no matter what the source, is what caused me to ask this. I am similar to you, but different, and I am not a unitarian universalist. LOL I only accept Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Outside of that, I do not accept anything from any extraneous source into my theology.

What are the scrolls of Ibrahim?

What would happen if part of the Bible contradicted the Quran? would the Quran to precedent, or are these writings harmonious?

The answer to your question lies in the statement that Zafran wrote when he said "in their original form." Muslims believe the current Bible has been changed and is not the original. Any contradiction between the Bible and the Qur'an, to a Muslim, would be further proof of the corruption in the Bible. They view the Qur'an as the final revelation.

[Zafran]

Are you a unitarian universalist? Your comment earlier about adopting things into your theology no matter what the source, is what caused me to ask this. I am similar to you, but different, and I am not a unitarian universalist. LOL I only accept Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Outside of that, I do not accept anything from any extraneous source into my theology.

so Pouring Rain do you believe that Jesus pbuh was God/ literal son of God or do you see him as prophet? - and do you believe in the trinity or do you have more Islamic/Judiac view of God.

peace

[bibleblevr]

Are you a unitarian universalist? Your comment earlier about adopting things into your theology no matter what the source, is what caused me to ask this. I am similar to you, but different, and I am not a unitarian universalist. LOL I only accept Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Outside of that, I do not accept anything from any extraneous source into my theology.

No I adhere mostly to Catholic teaching, and I attend an Anglican church.

I adapt my theology be way of carefully weighing the arguments that attest for each position, then I choose after prayer and study. I used to be a Evangelical Charismatic Protestant, and God lead me to Catholicism. If I investigate Islam and God proves that that is true, then I will convert. But on a much smaller scale, If you guys interrupt somethings about the divine more accurately then I have, I will adopt your view. If you shared a way of looking at the truth that brings to focus other truths is a good and Godly way, then I will steal this view point, and use it as a lens through which other things may be viewed by me more clearly.

I have no intention of converting to Islam, but then again I had no intention of becoming a Catholic, I simply follow Gods leading as closely as he has give me grace to.

[Insaanah]

Greetings Bibleblevr,

I see some of your questions have been answered, but I hope you don't mind if I go back to some of the very basics, starting with the concept of God in Islam. You may know some of this already, but I will re-state it here in any case.

• We believe in One God, other than Whom there is none worthy of worship.
• He has no associates whatsoever in His Divinity.
• He has no sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins, grandparents or relatives of any kind.
• He does not beget, not is He begotten.
• He is not composed of any number of persons, godheads, essences or anything else.
• He is Eternal, Immortal, indivisible.
• He is free of all need and dependence.

No trinity, no sons, no 3-in-1s, just One.

Prophets

We believe in all the Prophets (peace be upon them all) that God sent, from A-Z . We do not reject any of them. Neither do we exaggerate the status of any of them to something it wasn't, i.e. divine. We believe in them as they were: the noblest of human beings chosen by God to guide and warn mankind. Islam is the only religion that accepts all of them, and does not discriminate against any of them. Jesus (peace be upon him) occupies an esteemed position in Islam as being one of the mightiest Messengers of God. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the final messenger of God to all mankind till the end of time, and what he brought is unchanged and untampered with.

If a person calls himself a Muslim and doesn't believe in, respect, or love Jesus (peace be upon him) then he is NOT a Muslim.

• We believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) was one of the mightiest messengers of God.
• We believe that he was the messiah.
• We believe he was born miraculously without any male intervention.
• We believe that he gave life to the dead with Gods permission.
• We believe he healed lepers and those born blind, with Gods permission

However we do not believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) ever claimed divinity, or that he was God, son of God, or that he said "Worship me". We also do not believe that he was crucified, nor died for anyones' sins. In Islam, each person is accountable for their sins.

Holy Book

We believe that God revealed the Torah, the Zaboor given to Prophet David (peace be upon him), the Injeel given to Jesus (peace be upon him), but that over time, humans have changed these books and intermingled their own words with Gods words. The scripture that God gave Jesus (peace be upon him) was God's word. But Christians themselves admit that the Bible we have with us now is not the word of God, but mainly the word of man, and that some parts are written by people that never met Jesus (peace be upon him) and some parts, no one really knows exactly who wrote.

The Qur'an is the final book of God, to all mankind. It is 100% the word of God. Not a letter has changed. There are no versions. There are no contradictions. It is scientifically sound. It confirms the original message that God sent in the earlier scriptures.

Sins

In Islam we do not believe in the concept of original sin. We believe that all babies are born pure, innocent and free of sins, and are untainted by the burden of sins it is impossible for them to have committed. We do not believe that God made one person die for the sins of the whole world. In Islam, each person is responsible for their own sins.

The message

We believe that prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) came to preach the same message that Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) had preached before him, and not to alter or abolish it. All the Prophets (peace be upon them) preached the same message that God had sent them to preach; to worship ONE God. The message didn't suddenly change when it came to Jesus (peace be upon him), with a trinity or god suddenly begetting offspring. The message is and was what it always has been since the time of Adam (peace be upon him), he same message that Jesus (peace be upon him) preached, the same message given to all the Prophets, culminating in the final Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him), namely to worship One God, with no associates whatsoever in His Divinity, and to follow the guidance God has sent. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last Prophet, sent to all humanity, and what he brought is the guidance that must be followed til the Day of Judgement.

Allah depicts in the Qur'an what he will say to Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) on the Day of Judgement, in front of all humanity, and what Jesus's (peace be upon him) reply will be:

And when Allah will say: "O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah?" He will say: "Be Glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right. If I used to say it, then You knew it. You know what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Your Mind. Lo! You, only You, are the Knower of Things Hidden. I spoke unto them only that which You commanded me, (saying): Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. I was a witness of them while I dwelt among them, and when You took me, You were the Watcher over them. You are Witness over all things." (Qur'an 5:116-117)

Peace.

[IAmZamzam]

1 What does it take to go to heaven?

A full answer to this requires reading my answer to #4, but the most concise answer is, “Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Last day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve.” (Koran 2:62, Shakir)

2 Is their a kind of "salvation" In Islam like In Christianity?

We believe that God forgives the truly penitent, and that no torture or crucifixion is required of anyone for this to take place. This article explains it very well.

3 Is the Bible read by Muslims? I have heard that Islam is a continuation of Christianity, like Christianity is a continuation of Judaism, I understand the Jewish Torah and other religious writing very well, and know much about their culture, because it helps me understand my religion, do you do the same with Christianity?

We do indeed think of the religion itself sort of that way, but the Bible is a more complex matter. My FAQ explains it all.

4 Does God predestine people to hell and heaven in Islam? Is there a concept of free-will?

He doesn’t predestine us to heaven or hell, but what happens in this life is predestined (except for our own internal decisions, our efforts or wills or what have you, and it is only on these things that we are judged in the hereafter).

5 Do you guys believe in a hell?

Very much so. It is not necessarily eternal, though some of us would dispute that.

6 What makes someone righteous before Allah

I don’t think there is a short answer possible that wouldn’t sound too glib, but the Koran’s parallel passage to the Ten Commandments might be something of the sort.