Something i'm wondering.

format_quote Originally Posted by WhereWhen

These are just some thoughts i'm wondering.

I've read Quran and i've come to the conclusion that the God i've been taught about is the very same as it is taught in Quran. I was taught Christianity by my grandmother since i was very little and i've read the bible multiple times through my life and i have no doubt in my mind that Quran and Bible speak of the same God. Now, let me address the issue where some would argue that Jesus is God, no, how i've learned, Jesus is not a God but the greatest prophet who was born by Gods will through Maria and got the holy spirit put in him by God.

Now, when i approach this from this perspective i find the continuity in this tempting. Could it be that Jesus was sent as the greatest prophet imbued with holy spirit after Abraham and all the others before him to guide people on the right path but as God saw that people need further guidance in order to lead blessed lives he sent Muhammed to remind us further in the ways of God.

From my understanding:
First real prophet: Abraham
The greatest prophet: Jesus
The last prophet: Muhammed

Tell me if i'm wrong but is Islam the next step of Christianity? Reading Quran makes me believe that this is all the same teaching.

Greetings my friend,

I know where you are coming from since I have come from similar background. I have written extensively on this subject. To my understand all prophets are equal in Islam. Quran says:

The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination." [Quran 2:285]

So based on this verse a true Muslim makes no difference between prophets. I love Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them all) more than my life. Now in practice you will see Muslims entire life revolved upon praising Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and imitating him in everything we do. This is because we have nothing related with authenticity that what other prophets did and what they said. Other than Quran, we have Bible but it is very distorted as you may have find that out.

Quran also says:

Those Messengers! We preferred some of them to others; to some of them Allaah spoke (directly); others He raised to degrees (of honour); and to ‘Eesa (Jesus), the son of Maryam (Mary), We gave clear proofs and evidences, and supported him with Rooh-ul-Qudus [Jibreel (Gabriel)][Quran 2:253]

From this verse we know that Allah has honored few messengers over others. Quranic verse 42:13 mentioned five mighty prophets of Islam:

He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus - to establish the religion and not be divided therein. Difficult for those who associate others with Allah is that to which you invite them. Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back [to Him].[Quran 42:13]

So indeed Jesus (peace be upon him) is one of the mightiest prophets of Islam.
Please note that these prophets were only sent for a particular time to a particular nation. While prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is sent for entire humanity and for all time to come. That alone signify that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the final and best Prophet of Allah Subhanahu Wa Taala.

Islam is not a new religion. It is the religion of all previous prophets. I have written a post on this subject a while ago, see link below for that post and hope you will find that very helpful to connect the dots.
https://www.islamicboard.com/compara...-new-post.html
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Thanks for joining this forum. I welcome you on behalf of other Muslims and hope you will find this forum very useful to answer any questions you may have about Islam.

format_quote Originally Posted by WhereWhen

Thank you for your answers.

I'm going to have to agree with you Ahmed, most versions of Christianity are horribly twisted and from my limited understanding judaism has lost it's way long ago. There is only eastern orthodoxy that has remained true to the teachings of Jesus for 2000 years, every other major denomination has began to be used as a tool to control people in the name of the God and they teach false values such as homosexuality being normal. I think that this is the reason Mohammed was sent as a messenger of God to correct the ways of those who had been led astray. Oddly enough, speaking with my muslim friends online it seems like those of us who follow customs and rituals of the eastern orthodoxy are the closest to sunni muslims despite the differences we have in everyday worship of the lord.

Yes that's right, orthodox Christianity is similar to Islam: no eating pork, no drinking alcohol (in the USA 'Bible belt' they call alcohol 'the devil's drink'), homosexuality is an abomination and God stoned sodomites with brimstone, and in Bible it says Jesus (pbuh) prayed to God by prostrating on ground (like Muslims do)

However, I hope you do think about converting to Islam as abiding by a similar version of Christianity is not enough for salvation as Allah has elucidated in the Holy Quran, it is imperative that we all follow the Last Messenger Muhammad (saw):

Chapter (7) sūrat l-aʿrāf (The Heights)

Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel, who enjoins upon them what is right and forbids them what is wrong and makes lawful for them the good things and prohibits for them the evil and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them. So they who have believed in him, honored him, supported him and followed the light which was sent down with him - it is those who will be the successful.

That'd be the very old orthodox

Astaghfirullah. Sunni is far from eating pork, drinking wine and worshipping a trinity
Sunni is pure, there is no comparison

And they can't be very nice in general as this negates Allah's justice, They wouldn't go to hell for an eternity if they were

format_quote Originally Posted by RisingLight

i literally said i was orthodox...if i was talking about catholicism id say i was catholic...and in islam we are told that the closest to us are the christians,so saying orthodoxs are the closest to sunnis among all other christian groups isnt a comparison

but hell isnt necessarily for bad people,its for unbelievers and the sinful who didnt repent or Allah didnt forgive them....there are many good nonmuslim people in the world,and there are also many bad muslims,its unrealistic to say that there arent,and it doesnt negates Allah's justice because Allah rewards and punishes in both worlds....for example,even though i was muslim,christians have taken me in their homes and given me shelter,food,shared with me my worries etc,while muslims around me didnt care...these people helped me when i needed most,if they arent nice i dont know what they are..

Orthodox means old tradition bro, and Catholicism is considered to be orthodox as protestantism is relatively new. It seems you don't know Christian history and terminology much

Anyway, whatever 'orthodox' you mean, it's makruh to say those abhorrent practices of polytheism, eating pig and drinking alcohol is 'close to Islam', "we should be repelled by such sinful things and feel uncomfortable to say they are 'close' to the pure holy Islam. They are a trillion miles from our pure Islam

The Christians that are close to us are the one's who are not proud and who convert to Islam. That verse was referring to Bahira the monk and the Negus etc. There's other Christians who Allah describes in the Quran that assist our worst enemy, the Jews, against us, and the Christians in general are of this latter type now:

5:51:
Saheeh International: "O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are (in fact) allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you -- then indeed, he is (one) of them. Indeed, Allah guides not the wrongdoing people."


Christians are desbelievers who are destined to hell:

005.072 They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah (himself) said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Lo! whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him Allah hath forbidden paradise. His abode is the Fire. For evil-doers there will be no helpers.

005.073 They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the third of three; when there is no God save the One God. If they desist not from so saying a painful doom will fall on those of them who disbelieve.

Some things in Catholicism agree with Eastern Christian Orthodox, because it was originally Western Christian Orthodox.
The split happened in the 11th century, since then it gradually became Catholicism that we know today. Roman Catholic has the most followers but there are also other Catholicism in the world.
When I was a Catholic, I heard that in school, but I left the religion at a very young age, I never bothered to find out the history.
Several years after I left, another family member left Catholic to become a Christian - not Orthodox - but it was from him that I first heard about Christianity, the difference with Catholicism.
I don't know much about Eastern Christian orthodox, but I have heard they have many of the same rulings as in Islam like mentioned no swine, no wine/alcoholic drink, no same gender relationship etc

In the Qur'an, the word Allah use for Christians is Nasara. Jesus in the Bible, is often called, Jesus of Nazareth.
So the Christians mentioned in the Qur'an are the ones who follow the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. Who are they, among the Christians exist today? Allah Most Knowing.
because even Eastern Orthodox believe in the doctrine of trinity as well.

@OP, yes, Allah is God in the Bible, the Creator.
I had my moment of confusion as well, because was brought up to believe the concept of Trinity.