format_quote Originally Posted by
ameerkam
Ok. Do you have evidence to prove this? (Just making sure, brother)
First, Islaam is usually ALWAYS pro investigation. It is our duty as muslims to go and find the truth, to investigate, to explore, to learn and to develop. on all subjects, whether it is in nature, science in general, astronomy, archeology or religion doesn't matter.
So, from that we can say, we should all investigate everything...question the authority when needed...evaluate the evidences, etc.
second, when searched around on the internet you will quite often be referred to this hadeeth:
Imams Ahmad and Ad-Darimi narrated that Umar Ibn al-Khattab brought to Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) a copy of the Torah and said: "Allah's Messenger, this is a copy of the Torah. He (Allah's Messenger) kept quiet and he (Umar) began to read it. The (colour) of the face of Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) underwent a change, whereupon AbuBakr said: Would that your mother mourn you, don't you see the face of Allah's Messenger? Umar saw the face of Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) and said: I seek refuge with Allah from the wrath of Allah and the wrath of His Messenger. We are well pleased with Allah as Lord, with Islam as religion, and with Muhammad as Prophet. Whereupon Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: By Him in Whose hand is the life of Muhammad, even if Moses were to appear before you and you were to follow him, leaving me aside, you would certainly stray into error; for if (Moses) were alive (now), and he found my prophetical ministry, he would have definitely followed me".
Imam Ibn Taymiyah said: 'It is not permissible to rely on what the People of the Book narrate or to trust those who narrate from them. This is a consensus of all Muslims. Because the Prophet said: "When the People of the Book tell you something neither accept what they say as a fact nor deny completely as they might tell you something true and you deny it and they might tell you something wrong and you accept it".
the problem however with this hadeeth is that at that time Islaam was very fresh...Islaam and the Quraan was not fully rooted in the hearts of the people yet...there were still too many people around born as a non-muslim with old habits and who converted to islaam later on. So, the danger of reading the Bible or Thorah and then falling back into old habits were too great.
For a similar reason was the recording hadeeth also forbidden at first. The danger of accidentally confusing hadeeth with Quraan verses were far too great because the Quraan was not fully rooted into muslims hearts yet. Later on, the recording of the hadeeth were permitted.
So, yes, you will find hadeeth which seems to forbid to read the other holy books. But by examining the context of it, this applies only to that period of time where Islaam was very fresh.
And like I said, If your Imaan is not strong enough, or you are reading it with the wrong intentions ( maybe because your crush is of that religion, and you want to convert potentially if it sounds attractive for you)...then don't read it.
If you are just interested in the differences, and to give an adequate answer to cunning questions of non-muslims and to point out their flaws...then there shouldn't be a reason to forbid you to investigate it.
I cannot find another hadeeth which forbids to investigate other religions.