Hi, I am considering Islam.

Hi potentialmuslim,

Welcome to the forum. I'm pleased to hear that you're considering Islam. I'm also pleased to hear about your belief in the existence of a creator and designer (perhaps "God" is too loaded a term these days) and moreover, that you believe in this on a rational basis. I believe that the existence of a creator is completely intuitive, such that one doesn't actually need intellectual arguments to establish it. Consequently, everything points to it's existence, ranging from our own base intuition to the most complex of intellectual arguments. We appear to be living in a day and age where many people seem to depend on such arguments as cosmology, design and objective morality to establish something which I really think is a given. Given the intuitive nature of belief in the existence of a creator, I think this fact is rather unfortunate.

I noted with interest the following statement from your opening post:

format_quote Originally Posted by potentialmuslim

I believe in a Creator through reason, not faith (cosmological argument and argument from design) - making the leap to accepting a revealed religion will be difficult.

You may be surprised to hear this, since it's likely that every experience you've had with religion tells you otherwise, but as Muslims, we believe that Non-Muslims can (and perhaps even should) believe in Islam based on reason and objective investigation. As you know, we believe that many Prophets came before Muhammad () including Jesus (peace be upon him). What's more, we believe that all of these Prophets came with something extroardinary ("miracle" is probably another one of those terms which carries too many preconceptions), because of which people believed in them. This was explicitly stated in an authentic statement of the Prophet Muhammad () wherein he said:

There has not been a single prophet except that Allah gave him miracles because of which people believed in him. I have been given the Inspiration (i.e., the Quran) as my miracle, which Allah revealed to me. I hope, therefore, that I will have the largest number of followers on the Day of Judgement.

Yes, you read correctly. We literally believe that the Qur'an is a miracle (which can most appropriately be defined as "an event which lies beyond the productive capacity of nature") and, furthermore, we believe that this can be assessed by objective standards. Why? Because the Qur'an itself, in several places, provides the criteria by which it boldly claims to be a revelation from the divine. One such place occurs in the second chapter of the Qur'an and reads as follows:

And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah [chapter] the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah , if you should be truthful. But if you do not - and you will never be able to - then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers. [2: 23-24]

The Qur'an is basically saying here, that if you are in doubt that this truly is a revelation from the creator, then you must produce a chapter like it and if you are unable to do so, then you should accept that this is indeed an inspiration from the divine. In academic terms, we would say that the Qur'an's claim to divine origin is falsifiable - if somebody is able to "produce a chapter like it" (and I will get on to exactly what this means in a moment), then the Qur'an's claim will have essentially been falsified. Note here that the shortest chapter in the Qur'an consists of just three verses.

But wait; isn't this challenge subjective? What does it mean by "a chapter like it"? How can we objectively judge whether a person has succeeded in "producing a chapter like it"? Has anybody tried in the past? What is so unique about the Qur'an anyway and what exactly makes it inimitable? If you're interested in finding out more, I'd point you towards this website which was set up by Hamza Andreas Tzortzis - one of many people who have converted to Islam on an intellectual basis and who now lies at the forefront of articulating the message of Islam and the rational arguments for it.

Finally, I want to point out that there are some Islamic scholars who believe that, to stand the test of time and still be relevant as a miracle in the 21st century, the Qur'an should also be a scientific miracle. I would argue that it certainly doesn't disappoint although I'll let you be the judge of that. One such scholar is Dr. Zakir Naik and you can access one of his recent lectures on the topic here.

Regards

potentialmuslim, faith is, when used by anyone other than the ignorant, no different in meaning in a religious context than a secular one, in which it means "trust with fidelity". I will admit that it was probably religious people misusing the term much more than disbelievers who have ruined it for the rest of us.

Perhaps this article of mine could help you.

format_quote Originally Posted by potentialmuslim

Anti-Semitism" as a term was coined in Germany to refer specifically to discrimination and violence towards Jews.

Indeed and those who coined the term are those responsible for the acts... be that as it may, Trumble has actually given you pretty sound advise.. the only thing I can add to that is for you to ask God with a sincere heart to guide you to the path of the righteous!

all the best

Allah said:

O My servants, I have forbidden oppression for Myself and have made it forbidden amongst you, so do not oppress one another. O My servants, all of you are astray except for those I have guided, so seek guidance of Me and I shall guide you, O My servants, all of you are hungry except for those I have fed, so seek food of Me and I shall feed you. O My servants, all of you are naked except for those I have clothed, so seek clothing of Me and I shall clothe you. O My servants, you sin by night and by day, and I forgive all sins, so seek forgiveness of Me and I shall forgive you.

O My servants, you will not attain harming Me so as to harm Me, and will not attain benefitting Me so as to benefit Me. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man of you, that would not decrease My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more that a needle decreases the sea if put into it. O My servants, it is but your deeds that I reckon up for you and then recompense you for, so let him finds good praise Allah and let him who finds other that blame no one but himself.

It was related by Muslim (also by at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah).

This conversation has been dormant. How are you doing, potentialmuslim? Feeling all right? Any closer to embracing Islam? Anything I can help you with?