I don't know how to identify the truth. I don't even know if I can be certain that my reason is true. How could I know the truth based on fact not sentiment?
U have no need to put a question mark with the name of Allah .Allah will clarify his essence to you himself when he finds you sincere in your efforts as far as the search for Allah (God) is concerned.
The question is this; If we don't know Allah's true essence how then can we differentiate Allah from other false gods.
Greetings and peace be with you Jacob Alozie; and welcome to the forum,
The Jews are God's chosen people, Christians are chosen by Christ, and in Islam, Allah chooses whom he wills. So first of all, we respond to God's calling.
The truth should always lead us towards compassion, mercy, kindness, forgiveness and love. the same God hears all our prayers, despite our differences.
In the spirit of searching for a greatest meaning of 'One God'
Greetings and peace be with you Jacob Alozie; and welcome to the forum,
The Jews are God's chosen people, Christians are chosen by Christ, and in Islam, Allah chooses whom he wills. So first of all, we respond to God's calling.
The truth should always lead us towards compassion, mercy, kindness, forgiveness and love. the same God hears all our prayers, despite our differences.
In the spirit of searching for a greatest meaning of 'One God'
Eric
Eric I love the way you presented your point but Judaism, Christianity and islam has different teachings how then can we know the truth if all of them differs in the most basic question of life whic is salvation from this world to eternity. Thanks for your contribution
Eric I love the way you presented your point but Judaism, Christianity and islam has different teachings how then can we know the truth if all of them differs in the most basic question of life whic is salvation from this world to eternity. Thanks for your contribution
Jacob.
Jacob my friend, there is no proof, we have to listen to God's calling. I have a great respect for our Muslim friends here, they seem to take prayer more seriously than most Christians do, they fast, give to charity, modesty is important to them, and they have many more qualities.
Salvation is a tricky question, we all claim to have a path to salvation through our faith. but man seems to complicate God's message. It would make sense if there was only 'One Christian Church' but there are many. It would make sense if there was only One Muslim Sect, but there are many, etc.
If I should achieve salvation, it will not be through my own efforts, rather it will be through the grace, mercy and forgiveness of God. I pray that people of all faiths and no faiths will also be shown this same grace, mercy and forgiveness.
And yes, I am a Christian.
God is beyond our understanding, and I believe that you will never look into eyes of anyone; who does not matter to God, despite all our differences.
In the spirit of searching for a greatest meaning of 'One God'
Eric
You will never look into the eyes of anyone who does not matter to God.
I have read the other comments, with no disrespect, i did not really understand most of them. They are kind of abstract and is really hard for somebody to grab the meaning of something that is abstract.
Anyhow, i myself born a Muslim, turned in to a atheist and doing my own research based on logic, rationality and reason it brought me to Islam. As i have also experienced many of those things as being lost, not knowing what is what and keep on questioning and yet people giving me "it is what it is..and you have to accept it"..as how the world of today sort of functions. In other words, the world is full of thieves and liars and i just have to accept it and be part of them..so to say. I love philosophy and human psychology and everything in those categories told me that it doesn't make sense to be part of this corrupt world and my heart was very against this idea to be part of it.
My conclusion so far? Be honest, clean your heart of arrogance and ego be a student NOT a teacher. Ask questions to know not to criticize DO ask very critical questions but for the sake of wanting to know and to understand. However do not follow blindly. Your mind and heart must accept the answer. Many times people act like the teacher in the sense of ..i know how things truly are and everything that does not meet my level of intellect is by default false. This is completely wrong behavior as logically speaking no human being has all the knowledge. Also every human being is and will always be a student. Even a honest and GOOD teacher is still a student.
So honesty is in your heart. Be friendly to people..try always to smile and do not lie. If you see somebody fall..follow your instinct to want to help that individual. Or if you see somebody having difficulties with something whatever it may be try to help. Do not hear somebody talk, but listen what somebody is saying. Talk less and listen more. Nobody is less or more then you. A child can teach you something that you have forgotten or never have known. Listen even to a child ..knowledge is knowledge whatever the source might be. Why do i say these things as you might think this is normal human behavior. This is part of the human nature (in Islam Fitrah)..the CLEAR PURE human nature. Which makes you so to say more vulnerable for faith to enter the heart.
As my own experience when i became Muslim. After doing much research based on philosophy and psychology mostly i accepted everything about Islam, but i couldn't accept the concept of a Creator. However my heart was soft enough to let faith enter it. When somebody realizes that Islam is the truth..is always different. Mine was combination of the heart and the mind or in other words combination of subjectivity and objectivity.
How did my moment of realization come? When i accepted Islam to be the truth, but did not accept the concept of a Creator. One day 2-3 months later after i accepted Islam but not the concept of a Creator, i woke up in my bed. I ONLY thought of the word "Allah". I had NEVER been so calm in my entire life. It did not make sense, i mean i ONLY thought of the word "Allah"..just out of the blue. So the basic argument came up in my mind ..how come i have became SO calm as i have never experienced it before? I mean "Allah" was just a word right? So why did i never became so calm thinking about the word "laptop" or "house" or "door"..?? That was the moment that i accepted the concept of a Creator also. However after that i watched COUNTLESS hours of debates between Muslims and Christians ..Muslims and Atheists. I had debates with all kind of people.. i read a lot of things..i watched a lot of videos. Just like a sponge getting all the water.
Now almost 4 years later, i have come to know a lot of things thank God for that, but i have realized that the amount of knowledge that i posses is in my own words..if i would be on a small boat on the sea. The small amount of water that is touching my boat compared to all the water on this world is the amount of knowledge that i possess OR EVEN LESS. I mean i am ignorant compared to the amount of knowledge and wisdom that is available.. no ignorant is even to strong of a word. Even less than ignorant i would say. But what i do try to fight with myself is try to clean my heart of dishonesty. I try to be honest in searching for knowledge to want to know and understand. When i am corrected by a Muslim brother or a sister OR EVEN a person who is NOT a Muslim, i admit that i am wrong and thank that person for correcting me. Do not follow arrogance and ego.
Last edited by Simple_Person; 02-13-2017 at 07:21 PM.
I have read the other comments, with no disrespect, i did not really understand most of them. They are kind of abstract and is really hard for somebody to grab the meaning of something that is abstract.
Anyhow, i myself born a Muslim, turned in to a atheist and doing my own research based on logic, rationality and reason it brought me to Islam. As i have also experiences many of those things as being lost, not knowing what is what and keep on questioning and yet people giving me "it is what it is..and you have to accept it"..as how the world of today sort of functions. In other words, the world is full of thieves and liars and i just have to accept it and be part of them..so to say. I love philosophy and human psychology and everything in those categories told me that it doesn't make sense to be part of this corrupt world and my heart was very against this idea to be part of it.
My conclusion so far? Be honest, clean your heart of arrogance and ego be a student NOT a teacher. Ask questions to know not to criticize DO ask very critical questions but for the sake of wanting to know and to understand. However do not follow blindly. Your mind and heart must accept the answer. Many times people act like the teacher in the sense of ..i know how things truly are and everything that does not meet my level of intelligence is by default false. This is completely wrong behavior as logically speaking no human being has all the knowledge and is and will always be a student. Even a honest and GOOD teacher is still a student.
So honesty is in your heart. Be friendly to people..try always to smile and do not lie. If you see somebody fall..follow your instinct to want to help that individual. Or if you see somebody having difficulties with something whatever it may be try to help. Do not hear somebody talk, but listen what somebody is saying. Talk less and listen more. Nobody is less or more then you. A child can teach you something that you have forgotten or never have known. Listen even to a child ..knowledge is knowledge whatever the source might be. Why do i say these things as you might think this is normal human behavior. This is part of the human nature..the CLEAR PURE human nature. Which makes you so to say more vulnerable for faith to enter the heart.
As my own experience when i became Muslim. After doing much research based on philosophy and psychology mostly i accepted everything about Islam, but i couldn't accept the concept of a Creator. However my heart was soft enough to let faith enter it. When somebody realizes that Islam is the truth..is always different. Mine was combination of the heart and the mind or in other words combination of subjectivity and objectivity.
How did my moment of realization come? When i accepted Islam to be the truth, but did not accept the concept of a Creator. One day 2-3 months later after i accepted Islam but not the concept of a Creator, i woke up in my bed. I ONLY thought of the word "Allah". I had NEVER been so calm in my entire life. It did not make sense, i mean i ONLY thought of the word "Allah"..just out of the blue. So the basic argument came up in my mind ..how come i have became SO calm as i have never experienced it before? I mean "Allah" was just a word right? So why did i never became so calm thinking about the word "laptop" or "house" or "door"..?? That was the moment that i accepted the concept of a Creator also. However after that i watched COUNTLESS hours of debates between Muslims and Christians ..Muslims and Atheists. I had debates with all kind of people.. i read a lot of things..i watched a lot of videos. Just like a sponge getting all the water.
Now almost 4 years later, i have come to know a lot of things thank God for that, but i have realized that the amount of knowledge that i posses is in my own words..if i would be on a small boat on the sea. The small amount of water that is touching my boat compared to all the water on this world is the amount of knowledge that i possess OR EVEN LESS. I mean i am ignorant compared to the amount of knowledge and wisdom that is available.. no ignorant is even to strong of a word. Even less than ignorant i would say. But what i do try to fight with myself is try to clean my heart of dishonesty. I try to be honest in searching for knowledge to want to know and understand. When i am corrected by a Muslim brother or a sister OR EVEN a person who is NOT a Muslim, i admit that i am wrong and thank that person for correcting me. Do not follow arrogance and ego.
That's 100% true. If you seek God with your whole heart you will find Him. but the problem is the false teachers that want to lead us away from the truth. How can we identify someone that wants to lead us away from the truth?
That's 100% true. If you seek God with your whole heart you will find Him. but the problem is the false teachers that want to lead us away from the truth. How can we identify someone that wants to lead us away from the truth?
Just use your mind. Lies cannot win against logic, rationality and reason. As i already have said..ask your question whatever that might be and God willing it can be answered.
how then can we differentiate Allah from other false gods.
We all worship the 'One True God' who created the universe and life.
Then we have idol worship, that is anything that is more important to us than God. So, if I have a really hot girlfriend, and she becomes the centre of my attention, she is then my false idol. If I split up from my hot girlfriend, and all I can think about is her, she is still my false idol, or false god, because she becomes more important than God.
False gods are our sins that separate us from God the Creator, lust, power, pride, anger jealousy, etc. When we sin, we do not put God first. If you look up the 99 names of Allah, they are about compassion, forgiveness, love, mercy, justice, all these things lead to truth. I believe truth is when we put God first, our neighbour second and ourselves last, this seems to go against human nature. In fact human nature seems to favour selfish things, because we are worth it.
In the spirit of searching for a greatest meaning of 'One God'
Eric
You will never look into the eyes of anyone who does not matter to God.
We all worship the 'One True God' who created the universe and life.
Then we have idol worship, that is anything that is more important to us than God. So, if I have a really hot girlfriend, and she becomes the centre of my attention, she is then my false idol. If I split up from my hot girlfriend, and all I can think about is her, she is still my false idol, or false god, because she becomes more important than God.
False gods are our sins that separate us from God the Creator, lust, power, pride, anger jealousy, etc. When we sin, we do not put God first. If you look up the 99 names of Allah, they are about compassion, forgiveness, love, mercy, justice, all these things lead to truth. I believe truth is when we put God first, our neighbour second and ourselves last, this seems to go against human nature. In fact human nature seems to favour selfish things, because we are worth it.
In the spirit of searching for a greatest meaning of 'One God'
Eric
Brother, I see based on what i see at your profile on the left..that you are part of this community since 2005. Yet you still are a Christian. I have the feeling that you haven't answered the core question(s) to yourself. What i mean by this, what makes Islam truth or falsehood? Logically speaking, if Muslims CLAIM that a LAST prophet has appeared in the lines of prophets, would mean you should also follow the last prophet. If you say i do believe that Muhammad was the last prophet, then still something is missing or else you would have followed his teachings. A messenger is NOTHING more than a teacher. A teacher is one who teaches you something that will benefit you or remind you of something that you forgot.
Yet i see that you have stayed a Christian. Please do not THINK i am suggesting that you will go to hell or not go to hell, i am not even sure if i would go to heaven so i am NO position to say who goes to heaven or who goes to hell.
My argument is SOLELY based on following the teachings of the last prophet in the lines of prophets. As following the last prophet, you automatically also acknowledge the previous prophets but for example staying a Jew or Christian despite having heard of the last prophet and his message, means you do not acknowledge the other prophet(s) (Jesus and Muhammad in case of Jews) (Muhammad in case of Christians). So logically speaking, if you MIGHT NOT believe in a Day of Judgement, doesn't mean a Day of Judgement doesn't exist. So if the Day of Judgement begins, there will be a argument against you why you haven't followed the teachings of the last prophet? What is your argument then? As Qur'an and all the hadith are available and also truth will surely be clear from falsehood.
You do not have to answer these questions to me, but answer those questions to yourself. As in life, we have no certainty when we die and when we do die, there is no way back. Better follow a path of certainty, instead of regretting it later on.
Peace.
Last edited by Simple_Person; 02-14-2017 at 09:11 AM.
God is beyond my understanding, I sense that you are a devout Muslim, and you will probably go to your grave being a devout Muslim. Now I ask myself, did God make a mistake when he chose you to be a Muslim? And I believe that God does not make mistakes. So if I want to make you a Christian, not only would I have to fight against your beliefs, but I would have to fight against God, because God has chosen you to be a wonderful Muslim.
Religion is beyond my understanding, there is only 'One Jesus' so there should only be one Christian religion, but there are thousands. There is only 'One Prophet Muhammad pbuh' so there should only be 'One Islam'.
What I try and make sense of is there is only 'One God', so despite all our differences, the same God hears all our prayers, we are all a part of the same creation of the same 'One God'. God is greater than the sum of all the religions of the world put together. Somehow, I have to look on you as my brother, despite our differences. You will never look into the eyes of anyone; who does not matter to God.
I believe that truth leads to justice for the poor and oppressed, through compassion, kindness, justice, mercy and forgiveness. These virtues will lead us closer to our God.
Truth becomes more powerful when we use it to try and change ourselves, rather than to change other people to my beliefs.
Please do not THINK i am suggesting that you will go to hell or not go to hell, i am not even sure if i would go to heaven so i am NO position to say who goes to heaven or who goes to hell.
We should pray for each other that we might all have salvation, despite our differences. We cannot change God, but we can soften our own hearts.
May you and those you love and care for be blessed, and may you be a blessing to those you meet.
Eric
You will never look into the eyes of anyone who does not matter to God.
God is beyond my understanding, I sense that you are a devout Muslim, and you will probably go to your grave being a devout Muslim. Now I ask myself, did God make a mistake when he chose you to be a Muslim? And I believe that God does not make mistakes. So if I want to make you a Christian, not only would I have to fight against your beliefs, but I would have to fight against God, because God has chosen you to be a wonderful Muslim.
Religion is beyond my understanding, there is only 'One Jesus' so there should only be one Christian religion, but there are thousands. There is only 'One Prophet Muhammad pbuh' so there should only be 'One Islam'.
What I try and make sense of is there is only 'One God', so despite all our differences, the same God hears all our prayers, we are all a part of the same creation of the same 'One God'. God is greater than the sum of all the religions of the world put together. Somehow, I have to look on you as my brother, despite our differences. You will never look into the eyes of anyone; who does not matter to God.
I believe that truth leads to justice for the poor and oppressed, through compassion, kindness, justice, mercy and forgiveness. These virtues will lead us closer to our God.
Truth becomes more powerful when we use it to try and change ourselves, rather than to change other people to my beliefs.
We should pray for each other that we might all have salvation, despite our differences. We cannot change God, but we can soften our own hearts.
May you and those you love and care for be blessed, and may you be a blessing to those you meet.
Eric
Brother, a believe is based on something. For example, you BELIEVE that every human needs sunlight. This BELIEVE is based on scientific facts of needing Vitamine D but also you may have experienced it yourself. So your believe system is based on something. However this something what your believe system is based on, should be as objective as possible.
You say that God made me a Muslim. No i CHOOSE to be a Muslim. God only opened the door for me to become Muslim. Why God opened my door is something else. I can also choose to NOT be a Muslim, but rather follow Christianity.
However my believe-system is based on a tool that God gave me to use. That is my brain. I ask questions. Questions are the result of using your brain. As long as the answers do not meet logic, rationality and reason, my brain cannot accept those questions to be the truth.
I have done my research and i saw contradictions in Christianity (with all dew respect) and Judaism as other religions. However i did not see in Islam. Based on that, i accepted Islam as the truth and because of my honesty (according to my humble opinion) is that God opened the door for me to become Muslim. So my believe system is based on logic, rationality, reason and scientific facts/evidence.
So the questions is, if you see contradictions based on logic, rationality and reason based on what do you still believe that way you are walking is the truth? I mean if you still say no i believe based on ..my heart..that is called blind believe. Or with other words you are saying.."Thanks God, but it was a waste of your time and creation to give me a brain as i will not be using it". This blind believe sadly also exists with many Muslims. For example many have questions about certain things but other Muslims say.."how can you ask such a question", while in this day and age many questions can be answered based on logic, rationality and reason. Islam is not shy of questions. For the questions that we do not know, then we indeed say God knows best. As an example..what is soul? What is soul made of? This knowledge we do not posses and it may even be why we do not possess this knowledge because we cannot process this knowledge as it would go beyond our limitations.
About brotherhood. We all are children of Adam. So if we are not brothers through blood or religion, FOR SURE in humanity. This you have to respect each other despite having different views. However you want to
So there is much more than what meets the eye. It is not all simple believe in something i will end up good. Also, there is no guarantee i will stay Muslim till my grave. That is why Muslims always supplicate to God to make them firm in their religion and to hold them on the straight path.
So my advice is, be critical and ask critical questions and be honest in wanting to know. Many times people tend to find clues or evidence to meet what THEY think of what God is. While that is the wrong approach. The right approach is, look at the clues and evidence and those things will tell you what God is. Like for example, when somebody has been killed. You do not search for clues and evidence to brand John Doe as the killer, rather you look at the clues and evidence and those can say that Jane Doe was the killer. Same thing with religion. Look what exists and based on logic, rationality and reason, it will bring you automatically to the right religion..whatever that might be.
Peace
Last edited by Simple_Person; 02-14-2017 at 03:29 PM.
Yasmeen mujahid and nouman ali khan are well known Islamic scholars..I would like to recommend these names to you.their lectures will definitely help you to get out of your confusion.
They are dae (missionaries) not scholars. And I would advise against listening to Khan, he's knowledge is questionable.
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