Do you want the Comparative Religion section Open?

Nasty people can be banned and proselytizing threads of other faiths can be deleted easily. This section should open so that we can have a direct dialogue with other faiths.

No probs.

I think it's crucial as people will learn about aqeedah.

Many people think nowadays that Islam Christianity and Judaism are equal.

And they are not.

Islam cancelled out all previous religions.

Ukthi Muslim Woman if the forum is moderated properly it isn't an issue

Trolls and trouble makers would get the boot,but if we have incompetent mods who don't do their job, then yes it can be a serious problem.

جزاك الله خيرا

Yes we had jahils even claim we part of an Abrahamic group of faiths,

Like Ibrahim alayhi wa salam had multiple faiths.

Allah tala explicitly says he wasn't a Jew or a Christian, he was a Muslim.

everyone . for all your votes.

However though... the votes have left me stuck in a square box. I thought it would be either mostly YES or mostly NO, currently now it's exactly even at 11 votes each .

Let's review this so far:

Advantages of opening
- Forum will attract experienced senior Muslims and beneficial posters. Currently there are few people waiting for the opening of this section, the section being closed is what prevents them from joining IB.
- Any Islamic articles/posts that take a look at other religions can be posted there.
- ALL threads and posts can be moderated to prevent problems. Problematic members can be banned.
- An opportunity for Dawah. Opportunity for non Muslims to ask questions about their faith. "Direct dialogue with other faiths" as mentioned in @anatolian 's post.
"Invite to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Quran) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided." - An-Nahl : 125
- Forum will be more clean. There are already many threads, even recently that have ongoing discussions which are best suited for comparative religion section.
- People will learn about Aqeedah and misconceptions in other religions clarified.

Disadvantages of opening
- Non Muslims can use it to get publicity for their faith.
- Can create heated arguments/debates/bashing.
- Younger members may not have sufficient knowledge to respond to the points.
- The internal Jihad. We need to understand ourselves first. As mentioned in @najimuddin 's post.
- More moderation needed.

Read the points above everyone, and send your final comments before decision is made .

open

Assalamu Alaykum,

I am a supporter of healthy debates between those of different faiths, it is enjoyable and also a learning experience.

But I also understand very few follow the 'etiquettes' of true debate and it more becomes an excuse to bash and insult one another to prove who is right.

I suggest perhaps opening the section for a 'trial period' of one month? If people do abuse this privilege and it gets out of hand it can always be closed again, right?

format_quote Originally Posted by noraina

I suggest perhaps opening the section for a 'trial period' of one month? If people do abuse this privilege and it gets out of hand it can always be closed again, right?

that is a very good idea!

The Comparative Religion section was misused by non-Muslims to promote their disbelief in guise of giving us an understanding of their faith.

It was closed when a number of Muslim members complained of weakening their Iman after reading some of the posts by non-Muslims. Below are some of the reflections by IslamicBoard's previous moderators:

I've noticed alot of bros/sisters feel lower in emaan because of the huge number of atheists and anti islamic people, who are much older than the average muslim teens who join. Since people like Ansar and kadafi aren't here as much, we rarely have anyone knowledgable to refute them. Since these sections have repetitive articles, and arguments - maybe we can shut them down and make the forum abit peaceful for a while?


It's because the non muslims who do attack usually do it at a full scale, some helpful muslims try to come forward to defend - but aren't able to respond, no-one else responds, which then makes them question whether there really is an answer to what's been mentioned - like waswasa. And it also makes them sad that there aren't muslims there who know any response to the situation.


The reason why these young members get confused is because they go in there trying to refute some of the stuff said about islaam and the muslims but when the non-muslims lash back with a more advanced refutation which is beyond some of the muslim members capability suddenly confusion arises and they get frustrated at the fact that no-one comes forward to clear this.


Well basically, comparative religion implies comparing a religion vs another one, in this case Islam vs any other religion; we shouldn't be comparing we should be understanding.

Since we already have section on Clarifications About Islam, I don't think we really need to re-open the Comparative Religion section.

format_quote Originally Posted by Muslim Woman

many non Muslims will take advantage of that section . They will do a free publicity of their faiths . This forum is not to glorify other religions but Islam .

These happened in the past .

What if there were strict guidelines?

format_quote Originally Posted by Kiro

What if there were strict guidelines?

which??

format_quote Originally Posted by ibn-Adam

Since we already have section on Clarifications About Islam, I don't think we really need to re-open the Comparative Religion section.

There are several active threads that these people waiting in the wings could jump in and help out on.

It's just a thought that came to mind.

format_quote Originally Posted by anatolian

Nasty people can be banned and proselytizing threads of other faiths can be deleted easily. This section should open so that we can have a direct dialogue with other faiths.

I have mixed thoughts and feelings about this question, and I wish there were a 'not-sure' option. On one hand, people coming here to attack Islam is a bad thing per se. On the other hand, it might give Muslims a good opportunity to respond in a way that is good dawah. Also, I would like the chance to respond or clear up misconceptions about how Christians live without it being deleted as promotion of my religion. I have not tried to promote my faith here, but I have tried to respond to posts that are wrong about what Christians believe, but they've all been deleted.

I think in order for a comparative religions section to work well, it would have to be well moderated.