How important is it to study other religions?

[missy]

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.

Whoops…I screwed it! My bad. :hiding:

But I should say, you really confused me, for like 5 minutes I was stupidly staring at the computer screen…trying to reconcile with the mistake! :hmm:

Anyways, here’s what I meant,
Unless a person is completely satisfied with his own faith, it makes no sense in learning other religions.

But, if a person's religion does not give clear answers, i.e he's not satisfied,then obviously he should study other religions and strive for the truth.

As far as Islam is concerned, if a Muslim/or any other person, sincerely seeks true understanding, then he'll never be dissatisfied. Because Islam just fits perfectly like the pieces of a puzzle.

......I think its obvious why that would be problematic.

That sure wouldn’t be cool! Not a bit!

 

[Tyrion]

Anyways, here’s what I meant,
Unless a person is completely satisfied with his own faith, it makes no sense in learning other religions.

How is that different from what you said originally?

 

[missy]

How is that different from what you said originally?

Shoot! Not again!

Argh! I really can't think straight, now.....



Okay, lemme rephrase it,

A person (especially a Muslim) should study other religions only if he is completely satisfied with Islam and has a strong faith and wants to convey it to others. So in order to effectively do Da'wah he can learn the other faiths.

Basically, my point is that only after realizing that you've got the Truth can you preach the Truth. And for enhancing your preaching you could study other religions. Just to get a clear picture of the various false/heretic/illogical beliefs.

I hope that clarifies it..

 

[MustafaMc]

Peace, Eric H

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

I believe that you are sincere in your faith as I perceive you also believe that I am sincere in mine. My understanding from what you wrote is that since we are sincere and believe that God has guided us to our respective faith that He also guided the other to an alternative faith. I will kindly disagree as I don't see how God would guide one to believe Jesus is the Son of God and yet God Incarnate while at the same time guiding another to believe that Jesus was not the Son of God nor God. My opinion is that one is guided and the other is misguided or led astray from the Straight Way.

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.

True, there is a barrier between our hearts; however, I respect your sincerity and the right to practice your faith as long as it doesn't infringe on my practice of mine.

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.

This reminds me of the Good Samaritan parable and the hadith about Prophet Muhammad (saaws) checking on the Jew who abused him. I agree that we should be fair and just in our dealings with others of differing faiths. Sister Missy made a good point that to love one's neighbor, he should want for him what he wants for himself and what greater desire is there than to attain Paradise?

 

[Eric H]

Greetings and peace be with you all,

I have a great respect for Muslims and the way they pray, fast, their attitude to modesty, and alcohole. I have never read the Qur’an, but I do read many of the verses you guys put on your posts, and I do try and search for the good within Islam. When I read scriptures from other faiths, I strive to seek the best possible interpretation and meaning.

If I achieve salvation, it will not be through my own efforts, rather it will be through the grace and mercy of our God. I have family and friends from different religions and no religion, I pray that they may all achieve salvation, and I doubt if many of them will ever become a Catholic as I am. If God can be merciful to me, I pray that he will be merciful to all.

In the spirit of praying for salvation for all people.

Eric

 

[MustafaMc]

If I achieve salvation, it will not be through my own efforts, rather it will be through the grace and mercy of our God.

On this I agree. If God does not have mercy on me and forgive me of my sins, then surely I am lost. Though I strive to follow Prophet Muhammad (saaws) in how he lived his life and worshiped Allah (swt), I know that I am an imperfect human with many frailties and weaknesses. I do not know the state of my faith at my death. In Islam the intention determines the merit of a deed and who among us can truthfully judge the sincerity of his own heart as we will all be at the mercy of God on Judgment Day?

 

[ardianto]

Islam proclaims that it is okay to lie sometimes.

Peace Amigo.

The more accurate word is "cover something", not lie. If a wife cook for her husband and ask him "Is the food delicious ?", the husband is allowed to answer "It's delicious" to please his wife although the food is not delicious. If a Muslim soldier arrested by the enemy, and the enemy's interrogator ask him "Where is your unit ?", this Muslim soldier is allowed to answer "I don't know", although he knows where his unit is to protect other soldiers in his unit.

These are the example of situation when Muslims are allowed to 'lie', like I have heard from an Islamic teacher. But of course, lying in usual meaning is impermissible.

 

[Riana17]

Salam

Its a must to study others religion, for example Brother Amigo is really keen at Christianity, and now mashallah he is really interested in ISLAM.

But the thing is that which one is logical? Some people might be okay with little confusion in their religion, or little error or not so logical. For me, I better not have religion if it is not perfect in every sense.

Religions with false propaganda are really hard to follow, can't cheat myself. If I believe in second life and I am really keen to go to Jannah/Paradise then I must be very sure about my religion or better yet an atheist.

So it is a must to study major religions and accept the truth when it is the truth and pray for guidance from the Only Creator.

 

[MustafaMc]

Its a must to study others religion

Can you provide me an ayat in the Quran or a hadith that supports this statement?

, for example Brother Amigo is really keen at Christianity, and now mashallah he is really interested in ISLAM.

From what he has written he is interested in seeing us accept his faith and has not shown interest in Islam.

If I believe in second life and I am really keen to go to Jannah/Paradise then I must be very sure about my religion or better yet an atheist.

So, the choice is 1) know all religions, including Satanism, in depth before choosing the best religion or 2) be an atheist. Where did you come up with this one?

 

[Ramadhan]

salam Eric,

I see that your view of your own belief (christianity) is different than the core beliefs of most christians. Christians I know, including here in this forum, believe that unless you accept that God came down to earth and died to pay your sins, then you will not be saved in the hereafter.

If I achieve salvation, it will not be through my own efforts, rather it will be through the grace and mercy of our God.

Your view is similar to what muslims believe: that we will only enter paradise and avoid hell fire only by Mercy of God (swt), as this hadith describes:

Narrated Abu Huraira: I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “The good deeds of any person will not make him enter Paradise.” (i.e., None can enter Paradise through his good deeds.) They (the Prophet’s companions) said, ‘Not even you, O Allah’s Apostle?’ He said, “Not even myself, unless Allah bestows His favor and Mercy on me.” So be moderate in your religious deeds and do the deeds that are within your ability: and none of you should wish for death, for if he is a good doer, he may increase his good deeds, and if he is an evil doer, he may repent to Allah.” (Book #70, Hadith #577) Bukhari

 

[Amigo]

The more accurate word is "cover something", not lie. If a wife cook for her husband and ask him "Is the food delicious ?", the husband is allowed to answer "It's delicious" to please his wife although the food is not delicious. If a Muslim soldier arrested by the enemy, and the enemy's interrogator ask him "Where is your unit ?", this Muslim soldier is allowed to answer "I don't know", although he knows where his unit is to protect other soldiers in his unit.

Thanks for more explanations but that is still lying.
It appears that to you believe other things can be more important than truth.

 

[missy]

Greetings bro Eric,

If I achieve salvation, it will not be through my own efforts, rather it will be through the grace and mercy of our God. I have family and friends from different religions and no religion, I pray that they may all achieve salvation, and I doubt if many of them will ever become a Catholic as I am. If God can be merciful to me, I pray that he will be merciful to all.

God is definitely the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful and there is no doubt that He’ll Help those who strive in His Cause.

God Almighty says in the Holy Quran,
“…..My mercy encompasses all things…..” (Holy Quran 7:156)


Regarding your previous post,

As its clear, while saying, “Love your neighbor as yourself”, you are referring to the passage from the Gospel of Matthew. And it looks like for you the “greater” purpose of life is to strive to put this verse/command in to practice. But, you fail to realize that according to whoever wrote this Gospel, Jesus (pbuh) regarded something as the “greatest commandment”…..and what is that?...it’s to love God Almighty the most!

“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22: 37,38)


So, however great you might regard it, loving God the most remains the first and the greatest!

Now, if we love someone…we naturally express our love, cuz that’s the only way to prove that you’re not lying….and the very meaning of “expressing” love means to do exactly that which pleases the person. It’s another thing that a person might simply pretend or flatter but obviously here we’re talking about God…and God cannot be fooled!

Okay, now applying the same principle to loving GOD Almighty,
In order to truly love God, you gotta be doing things according to,

1. what pleases Him,
2. what displeases Him,
3. what He has Commanded (Permitted/Prohibited)
4. You need to acknowledge Him and His Attributes and have faith in their Perfectness, (eg, believing that God’s Knowledge is perfectly perfect and eternal.)
5. Believe in all that He has revealed to His Prophets and Messengers and all that He has said.
6. Act Accordingly.

These are just a few to mention...and I’m sure I’m missing out on a lot ‘em…it’s definitely much more deep and serious. It isn’t as simple as we think…and that’s where we go wrong.

So once we get a clear picture of how God should be loved/obeyed, we need to know what exactly those aspects are. For which, knowing God’s True Religion is very essential, rather the only way out, the only way to “salvation”!


Since you don’t like people debating interfaith, I won’t tell you why I feel Christianity is wrong, instead, I’d just ask one sincere question….

Does Christianity provide you with sufficient knowledge about God’s Being, His Attributes, His Omnipotence, His Likes/Dislikes and what He has Prohibited/Commanded and how you as a believer should act,…and all of what can be thought to be necessary in order to truly love Him…without any sort of contradictions in the text, no vagueness, no ‘mysteries’ etc?


P.S: If got an opportunity, I would love to discuss about the making of the Bible, the NT.

 

[Tyrion]

Thanks for more explanations but that is still lying.
It appears that to you believe other things can be more important than truth.

*Sigh, you're not one of those super pacifist Christians too, are you? Stuff like that might look good on paper, but fails miserably in real life... You know, real life - that thing we're all living in right now.

I've noticed something Amigo... It seems like you were a lot more subtle in the past, but lately you've been way more obvious with your agenda. If you're going to try and make Islam look bad and promote whatever sect of Christianity you belong to, I suggest you try harder to at least make it look like you're sincere. :rollseyes

 

[Amigo]

There is no real life except in the fullness of truth.

As about your accusations on me, it seems like resisting false accusations on my faith here means having an agenda.

 

[Ramadhan]

Thanks for more explanations but that is still lying.
It appears that to you believe other things can be more important than truth.

So christians are not allowed to tell their wives that their cooking are delicious even if it is not?
And christians must tell the truth when they are captured by enemies?

but your prophet Saul of tarsus command you to lie in order to spread paulian christianity:

But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself. nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit.
(2 corinthians 12:16)

“But what does it matter? Nothing matters except that, in one way or another, people are told the message about Christ, whether with honest or dishonest motives, and I’m happy about that. Yes, I will continue to be happy.” (Philippians 1:18)

But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? (Romas 3:7)

 

[MustafaMc]

There is no real life except in the fullness of truth.

As about your accusations on me, it seems like resisting false accusations on my faith here means having an agenda.

You speak in riddles and whatever is your faith is unclear to me. Assuming you are a Christian and that the central belief is that Jesus is literally both the Son of God AND God inside a human body, then we have a fundamental difference in understanding of the Truth. Jesus can not be other than a messenger, prophet and servant of Allah (subhana wa ta ala) as so indicated by the first part of Acts 3:13. You do not properly answer questions or even adequately defend your faith other than speaking in riddles that no one can understand what you mean.

 

[Ali_008]

Thanks for more explanations but that is still lying.
It appears that to you believe other things can be more important than truth.

Yeah, the lives of valiant soldiers who are ready to die to establish truth is more important than truth itself because they defend it. The king can only be protected when the soldiers are alive and not vice-versa.

And yes, it is allowed to lie to the wife only because the matters between husband and wife are to be always remained strictly confidential. It is not called lying if you are trying to keep your marriage happy. I'm sure you must have said at one time or the other regarding your love for someone as "I love so and so from the bottom of my heart" or "My heart longs for you" but today science has proved that you love from the brain not from the heart. So were you lying when you used the word "heart"?

More importantly, you have been lying on this forum claiming to have "seen Christ" when you were never able to bring forward your evidence.

Peace

 

[ardianto]

Thanks for more explanations but that is still lying.
It appears that to you believe other things can be more important than truth.

There are many Christians in my mother big family. Also I have many Christian friends. Alhamdulillah, my relationship with them is very good. We respect each other.

I noticed, when my Christian relatives or friends visited a house and the host served them with foods, they always answer "delicious" when the host asked about those foods taste, although those foods were not delicious. And when someone unintentionally 'hit' them, they always replied "I am okay" although they hurt, when that someone apologize and asked "Are you hurt".

Is it means they are liars ?. Depend on from which point of view we see this case. But for me, they are not liars. They hide the 'truth' because they have good manner and etiquette. So, what's difference between them and Muslim husband who said "delicious" although his wife dishes is not delicious ?

There is no any religion that allow lying. But if believers in all religion choose to hide the 'truth' with good an acceptable reason, it's permissible.

I know you know about it, amigo.

 

[Crystal]

I personally think it is important to study many religions. From my experience studying religion makes you think about the world in a new way - you see the differences but what is most astonishing is when you see the similarities - it makes you stop and think they must be similar for a reason? It makes believe in God because I don't believe that these religions just made up a higher being. It may have been in the past certain religions held the truth but over time they became corrupted or weren't preserved but some of the truth is still there.

Also a scientist from the Islamic empire when it was at its prime named al Kindi said the following :We should not be timid in praising truth and seeking it from wherever it comes - even if it be from distant races or people different from us.

Also in the hadith I came across the following:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge, Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads to paradise (Book 25 Sunan Abudawud)
Narrated Anas ibn Malik Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said:The seeking of knowledge is obligatory for every Muslim (Al Timirdhi hadith no. 74)

To be honest in my studies of religion the religion that places the most emphasis on knowledge is Islam. I don't see any problem with Muslims studying other religions and I am aware that the quran actually says to look at previous scripture in order to confirm the quran i.e the belief of God. Another thing learning about other religions that is useful for Muslims is dawah ( I think i spelt it right). What is the point in telling a Hindu or Christian about Islam when you don't know anything about their religion. By putting things in context for a person they may understand Islam a lot better. Me being a previous Catholic, and not sure what I am now but in learning about Islam I wouldn't have liked it as much if someone was just preaching me their religion rather I prefer comparing. I found a man called Ahmad Deedat very useful in my search for the truth - I have so much respect for him as he knew the bible inside out as much as he knew the quran and his arguments were therefore much more compelling.

 

[Amigo]

There are many Christians in my mother big family. Also I have many Christian friends. Alhamdulillah, my relationship with them is very good. We respect each other.

I noticed, when my Christian relatives or friends visited a house and the host served them with foods, they always answer "delicious" when the host asked about those foods taste, although those foods were not delicious. And when someone unintentionally 'hit' them, they always replied "I am okay" although they hurt, when that someone apologize and asked "Are you hurt".

Is it means they are liars ?. Depend on from which point of view we see this case. But for me, they are not liars. They hide the 'truth' because they have good manner and etiquette. So, what's difference between them and Muslim husband who said "delicious" although his wife dishes is not delicious ?

Brother, good manner is honesty.
A good Christian must alwasy do his best to present the truth because the truth wether it hurts or not always does good to one who hears it. Truth always save. Those people who did not cook well, will make extra effort and cook well next time, and you will have done them a great/friendly service of pointing out that their food is not as delicious as they expect. One just have to learn/pray to be respectful in everything.

About being hurt. Well, if it is by accident, I am not sure what they mean by 'okay'. Perhaps it means that they are not offended because it is by accident. Or they are not hurt very painfully....not as bad as it could be...

Those Christians will speak for themselves. I am almost certain that they will not desagree with me about what I said here. We are weak. Believing that lying is always a sin, does not mean that we don't lie, we are weak and sin often. The important thing is that we acknoweldge our sin and repent for it. It makes an infinite difference if we did not acknowledge that it was a sin and did not repent for it.