How important is it to study other religions?

[missy]

A lie is a lie, it is not truth and is always opposed to Truth by nature...
Falsehood is falsehood, it leads to false realities.
Falsehood for peace gives false peace.
Falsehood for love gives false love.
Falsehood for harmony gives false harmony.

Perseverance in truthfullness leads to the fullness of truth.
Any falsehood is a deviation and leads to false truths/realities...perdition.
This is the one Way: Truth, truthfullness. It corresponds to the one true Faith in God who never abandon those who persevere in truth and honor Him by their truthfulness. A lie is produced by lack or weakness in faith.

Resolve not to lie, not matter what. Renounce all falsehood without any exception. You will see that you will suffer, but Christ will come to meet you and comfort you. He will then explain to you the Bible and the prophets and lead you into the fullness of Truth.

All those who persevere in truthfullness know one common thing: the Cross. Calvary. They meet Christ.
The Bible, its prophets, and all realities can only be understood at the feet of the Cross.
Christianity is absolute Faith in the Truth. Truth is sent to Death by men, but even death could not contain it, instead death itself died. Therefore, one who dwell in the truth has nothing to fear.

Hey bro Amigo,

That doesn't answer my questions! :ermm:

 

[Amigo]

I did. Walk in the truth and remain in it. Then the Bible, the Koran, and the Prophets will be explained to you!

 

[missy]

I did.

Nuh-uh! I beg to differ.
You've simply quoted few lines of poetry! which i didn't understand either.

Ah, Well.

C'est la vie.

 

[Amigo]

You are being faithfull to your Faith in exceptions to Truth, so it is not expected of you to have full understanding until you embrace the Truth in its fullness (that is without exceptions).

 

[MustafaMc]

Missy, has your study of other religions benefited you in you deen? If so, how?

 

[Insaanah]

On the topic of truth and falsehood,

They say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten a son!"
Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!
At it the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin,
That they attribute to the Most Merciful a son.
For it is not consonant with the majesty of (Allah) Most Gracious that He should beget a son.
There is no one in the heavens and earth but that he comes to the Most Merciful as a servant. (Translation of Qur'an, 19:88-93)

Praise be to Allah, Who hath revealed the Scripture unto His slave, and hath allowed therein no crookedness:
[He has made it] straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward, In which they will remain forever
And to warn those who say, "Allah has taken a son."
They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie.(18:1-5)

It is good that Allah has told us something about religions in the Qur'an. In particular how the People of the Scriptures (Jews and Christians) veered off the straight path they were shown. In a certain situation once, many years ago, I heard the name of a Spanish man whose name was Jesus. And I commented what a beautiful name that was. A Christian replied to me that it was blasphemous, because Jesus was God. I said, but I thought you believed he was son of God? This was the first I'd heard of Jesus supposedly being God. Or was it?

They have certainly disbelieved who say that Allah is Christ, the son of Mary. Say, "Then who could prevent Allah at all if He had intended to destroy Christ, the son of Mary, or his mother or everyone on the earth?" And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them. He creates what He wills, and Allah is over all things competent. (5:17)

I had neglected to notice that Allah had mentioned in the Qur'an that they erroneously believed both that Jesus (peace be upon him) was son of God, and also that they believed he was God.

 

[missy]

bro MustafaMc,

Missy, has your study of other religions benefited you in you deen? If so, how?

Um…basically,…why I’m interested in interfaith studies is because I feel I should stand up for the Truth, make it known to people and be able to answer those who blaspheme Allah (SWT) and the Prophet (SAW).
I especially like to research more on Judaism and Christianity because they have a lot in common with Islam.

So far, my experience with it….Alhamdullilah, I’ve learned many things that I never knew and I can relate to it more now. Although, my method's nothing more than browsing hundreds of websites…and just bookmarking the useful ones for future reference…I really don’t go that deep in such stuff, cuz most of the time I can’t retain it even if I try my best to do so…(I’m bad at learning answers too, that explains it!..lol)
Spiritually speaking, I feel good about it. Alhamdullilah. It encourages me to learn Islam more and be a good practicing Muslim cuz it makes me realize that I have the TRUTH and that Allah SWT has Guided me and shown me the Straight Path.

I’ve been able to explain; very rarely though, some stuff to my Christian friends…It wasn’t all that great…but still I do try, Alhamdullilah. I usually find it difficult to start up such topics with friends and neighbors, it takes an extra mile.

But ultimately, a Muslim’s main goal lies in pleasing the Almighty, Allah SWT.
Alhamdullilah!! :statisfie

:wa:

 

[MustafaMc]

Wa alaikum assalam, wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu, Ukhti Missy, please excuse my lack of manners and for being blunt. You provided a good answer and would have been exactly what I would have written.

The nature of Jesus is the central issue to Christianity as to whether he was a man, Son of God or God in human flesh. No Muslim would disagree with the first part of Acts 3:13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus." I believe it was Paul who was the primary one to exalt Jesus above the status of prophet, messenger and servant of Allah and deify or make him into God. The first two chapters of Galatians were particularly revealing to me that Paul claimed to have received a revelation from God. In other words he claimed to be a Rasool Allah that Christians take for granted without serious evaluation of his claim. There is an article "Paul's Gospel" written by a Christian, William Newell, http://www.biblicist.org/bible/paul.shtml that illustrates my perspective. I had watched a show by a TV evangelist, Les Feldick, who basically reiterated this article. I actually wrote him a letter, but never heard back from him.

 

[Eric H]

Greetings and peace be with you missy;

There is no compulsion in religion, and God chooses whom he wills, but it seems that the same God has chosen you through Islam and me through Christianity.

It seems that God has put a great barrier between us for some reason, in order that I should get on with you, it seems to imply that I should try and convert you first.

Somehow I feel that God has given us a greater purpose to strive for, and that is to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, despite all our differences.

In the spirit of praying for a greater interfaith friendship, despite all our differences.

Eric

 

[Ramadhan]

Salam Erik,

I am all for greater interfaith friendships, but I have to take issue with this opinion:

it seems that the same God has chosen you through Islam and me through Christianity.

If you believe what you are saying, then God also has chosen atheists, hindus, buddhist, agnostics, etc. This means God that you believe in is not Just because he will punish those who doesn't believe in HIM while it was HIM who choose the faith for every human.

 

[Predator]

There is no compulsion in religion, and God chooses whom he wills, but it seems that the same God has chosen you through Islam and me through Christianity

.

How can your "God" and my God be the same ? You worship a middle eastern Man born 2011 years ago , whereas I worship Allah- the creator of the universe.

 

[Eric H]

Greetings and peace be with you Airforce and Ramadhan;

We worship Yahweh, the One God, creator of the universe and life, however you might juggle beliefs about, we are all created by the same God, the same God hears all our prayers.

Billions of people have lived and died a Muslim, billions of people have lived and died a Christian, only God has the power to change this

We can spend our time in debate and argueing with each other, but for what purpose?

Or we could strive to get on despite our differences, neither of us are going to change, unless God wills it.

In the spirit of praying for a greater interfaith friendship

Eric

 

[Tyrion]

only God has the power to change this

Sure, but the whole point of life is for us to do our part and try. You seem to be trying to free yourself from any responsibility in this world... I don't think that's a good idea.

 

[czgibson]

Greetings,

I was at school the other day and between lessons I saw an Egyptian pupil who I know sitting at an empty desk in the corridor with nothing to do. I asked him what was happening and he told me he had to sit outside because his class were doing Religious Education, and he couldn't join them because he was a Muslim. He said he had to stay out of the lesson if the class was learning about anything other than Islam.

Sometimes parents will make requests along these lines, and I assume that is what had happened here. I can almost see the logic in parents wanting to keep their child on their chosen religious path, but at the same time, it is surely important for children to know about other religions. The child I spoke to will probably grow up with a much more limited understanding of world religions than his classmates, and if he does that would be a shame.

I know that this avoidance of the study of other religions is not common to all Muslims - every adult Muslim I have met has known an immense amount about other religions - but I thought I would mention this incident here to see what others think about it.

Peace

 

[missy]

Akhi MustafaMc,

Wa alaikum assalam, wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu, Ukhti Missy, please excuse my lack of manners and for being blunt. You provided a good answer and would have been exactly what I would have written.

The nature of Jesus is the central issue to Christianity as to whether he was a man, Son of God or God in human flesh. No Muslim would disagree with the first part of Acts 3:13 "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus." I believe it was Paul who was the primary one to exalt Jesus above the status of prophet, messenger and servant of Allah and deify or make him into God. The first two chapters of Galatians were particularly revealing to me that Paul claimed to have received a revelation from God. In other words he claimed to be a Rasool Allah that Christians take for granted without serious evaluation of his claim. There is an article "Paul's Gospel" written by a Christian, William Newell, http://www.biblicist.org/bible/paul.shtml that illustrates my perspective. I had watched a show by a TV evangelist, Les Feldick, who basically reiterated this article. I actually wrote him a letter, but never heard back from him.

No worries. Ain’t nothing like that. Your question was pretty polite and meaningful. MashaAllah.

Exactly! It’s like Paul just brainwashed all of them. Apart from bringing in the weird ideas of Jesus being son of God and all the blasphemous claims, he cancelled out the law of circumcision, discouraged people from practicing the Law, and went to such an extent of insulting Jesus’ disciples, calls Peter (and Barnabas, I guess) a heretic! In the very same letters to the Galatians he expresses his anger at those converts who show their eagerness to follow the law of the OT. As far as I can recall for this, he even calls them “stupid”.
He also claims to experience some kind of mysticism (Galatians 2:20), by saying that “Christ lives in me”!! And the worst part is, in spite of all this he did get a good number of followers and to this date he still takes millions of people for a ride.

For my money, he’s not one to rely upon. He cannot be taken at his words for obvious reasons.

JazakAllah Khair for the link, went through it, It’s very informative, MashaAllah. Bookmarked it! :statisfie

 

[missy]

There is no compulsion in religion, and God chooses whom he wills, but it seems that the same God has chosen you through Islam and me through Christianity.

It seems that God has put a great barrier between us for some reason, in order that I should get on with you, it seems to imply that I should try and convert you first.

Somehow I feel that God has given us a greater purpose to strive for, and that is to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, despite all our differences.

In the spirit of praying for a greater interfaith friendship, despite all our differences.

Eric

We worship Yahweh, the One God, creator of the universe and life, however you might juggle beliefs about, we are all created by the same God, the same God hears all our prayers.

Billions of people have lived and died a Muslim, billions of people have lived and died a Christian, only God has the power to change this

We can spend our time in debate and argueing with each other, but for what purpose?

Or we could strive to get on despite our differences, neither of us are going to change, unless God wills it.

Greetings bro EricH,

One of the reasons that I brought up this topic was because I’m concerned about my Non-Muslim friends. Concern comes from true love for someone. This world is ephemeral, and the real life is the Afterlife; where a person is either Rewarded with Eternal life in Paradise or given eternal punishment in the Hellfire, so as long as you’re alive, it’s very very important to believe in the True Religion of God and to call others to it rather than ignoring it completely.

Our very purpose on this earth is to believe in God Almighty alone and worship Him as He has Commanded us. We have to submit completely, which involves following the Right Faith!

Now the question is, Which is the True Faith? Obviously, each one of us would support our own beliefs and ideas, which leads to discussions and debates, and it’s not aimed at proving the other person wrong, rather to convey the Truth.

I’m really not with the idea of giving priority to simply “loving” your neighbors over “lovingly” calling them to the Truth. What’s better… you have good relations with your neighbor only in this world or experience the pleasures of the true life with him in the Hereafter? Well, I would choose the latter. Alhamdullilah.


Hope you see the point...

May God Almighty Bless us with the Truth. Ameen.

Peace.

 

[missy]

Greetings,

I was at school the other day and between lessons I saw an Egyptian pupil who I know sitting at an empty desk in the corridor with nothing to do. I asked him what was happening and he told me he had to sit outside because his class were doing Religious Education, and he couldn't join them because he was a Muslim. He said he had to stay out of the lesson if the class was learning about anything other than Islam.

Sometimes parents will make requests along these lines, and I assume that is what had happened here. I can almost see the logic in parents wanting to keep their child on their chosen religious path, but at the same time, it is surely important for children to know about other religions. The child I spoke to will probably grow up with a much more limited understanding of world religions than his classmates, and if he does that would be a shame.

I know that this avoidance of the study of other religions is not common to all Muslims - every adult Muslim I have met has known an immense amount about other religions - but I thought I would mention this incident here to see what others think about it.

Peace

Greetings to you too bro,

Maybe because the child wasn’t a practicing Muslim, so his parents didn’t want to put his faith at stake. Because, unless a person is satisfied completely with his own beliefs, it makes no sense in learning other religions. It might cause one to deviate from the Straight Path, provided he IS on the Straight Path.

Peace.

 

[Ramadhan]

We are all created by the same God, the same God hears all our prayers.

salam Eric,

I don't disagree with that.
But what I disagree is that you believe God has purposefully, intentionally, irrevocably chose our beliefs for us and there is nothing we can do to change our belief.

Unless you don't believe in hell, I'm sure you'd know that people who disbelieve in God and do evil things despite all proofs and evidence will be punished in hell by God. That is tantamount you believe that God is unjust because He has chosen atheisms for some people and God had also chosen some people to be evil and that those people cannot change their belief and cannot change their ways and yet they will be tortured in hell. That is Unjust.
I'm sorry, but I worship and believe in God that is The Just.

I believe that we are created by God not as sheep or robots, for we are given intelligence by God to observe, to think, to evaluate evidence, and to conclude. We are also given "nafs", that is, our desires, that may come in the way between us coming to the truth. But nevertheless, we all are already given all the tools and the ways to reach to the truth and goodness, it is up to us whether we really want the truth and goodness or whether we are already comfortable with everything we have.

We can spend our time in debate and argueing with each other, but for what purpose?
Or we could strive to get on despite our differences, neither of us are going to change, unless God wills it.

As I said, I am all for friendships and bridging differences and all that.
I tolerate your faith and I don't force you to believe in what I believe in.
But when it comes to belief in God, clearly we have fundamental differences, it is safe to conclude that you worship different God than I do, and no matter how strong you'd want it, you can never get me to say that I believe in the same God that you believe in. Insha Allah. You are more than welcome to believe in Allah as the creator of heaven and earth and that Jesus (pbuh) is one of His most noble messengers, though.

 

[czgibson]

Greetings,

Greetings to you too bro,

Maybe because the child wasn’t a practicing Muslim, so his parents didn’t want to put his faith at stake. Because, unless a person is not satisfied completely with his own beliefs, it makes no sense in learning other religions. It might cause one to deviate from the Straight Path, provided he IS on the Straight Path.

Peace.

Thanks for the reply. You may be right that it could be because the child isn't a practising Muslim - I hadn't thought of that. He's around nine years old, so he's almost certainly too young to understand the issues involved in deciding what his religious beliefs should be. He is being prevented from making an informed choice, however.

Am I reading your second sentence correctly? You seem to imply that there is no point in studying other religions if you are happy with your own. That strikes me as a sure way to bring about misunderstandings and division among people. But maybe that is not what you meant.

Peace

 

[Tyrion]

@czgibson: I think most would agree that the parents of that child seem insecure, and are over reacting... Right now, the kid is Muslim because his parents are, and he deserves the chance to learn about other faiths so that he can decide between them when he's ready. Also, I think most would disagree with missy when she said you shouldn't study other religions if you're happy with your own. (if that's what she meant...) I think its obvious why that would be problematic.