format_quote Originally Posted by
fschmidt
I assume that Arabic, like Hebrew, doesn't have upper case to distinguish proper nouns. So "Islam" is "islam" which can mean either the religion of the Quran OR simply submission. If it means submission, then anyone who submits to any of God's teachings should be fine, right?
no. it means submission. But there is only one God's teaching...which is Islam...so it looks as if it has more than one meanings...but it really doesn't.
format_quote Originally Posted by
fschmidt
It seems to be human nature to believe that your belief is the only correct belief. This is unfortunate. The Old Testament teaches that other morally sound beliefs in other cultures should also be respected. I would be interested to know what exactly the Quran has to say about this. Take my case as an example. I believe that Muhammad was a prophet but that each prophet offers a sound path. The reason that God provided multiple paths is that people vary and so different people will do better with different paths. I follow the path of the Old Testament (Moses). Now I would like someone here to show me where in the Quran it says that I am doing wrong?
There are no different paths. Islam was already there before Adam (first human being) walked the Earth. One God, teaching only one path, one religion. Every time people wandered off that one true path creating their own religion...a new prophet was sent to guide them back to the true path.
this means:
-all prophets came to teach Islam;
-every other religion is a self made religion.
That is why almost every religion can teach the same basic principles and why the same stories about some prophets can pop up in different religions.
this is not copied from the other religion...the origin is just the same.
Back to your question:
Islam also teaches to respect other religions.
The Quran promotes religious tolerance and sets the guideline for the Muslims’ interaction with people of other faiths. God says:“…There is no compulsion in religion…” (Quran 2:256)
also the hadeeths:
“Whoever kills a person who has a truce with the Muslims will never smell the fragrance of Paradise.” (
Saheeh Muslim)
and
“Beware! Whoever is cruel and hard on a non-Muslim minority, or curtails their rights, or burdens them with more than they can bear, or takes anything from them against their free will; I (Prophet Muhammad) will complain against the person on the Day of Judgment.” (
Abu Dawud)
If you have no knowledge about Islam and Muhammed (sas) or you've had no chance to gather true knowledge about it, you should be OK with following Christianism or Judaism. But if you have knowledge of Islam and Muhammed (sas) and you ignore or reject that...and instead follow an other religion...this will not be accepted.
In your case....you are here on an Islamic forum...discussing Islam with us...you have plenty of oppurtinities to discover Islam...you do the math.