Uthmān;1260533 said:
- A Muslim who fulfils all of their obligations and avoids the major sins is guaranteed a place in paradise without any punishment.
- A Muslim who does not fulfil all of their obligatory duties and/or
does fall into major sins might be punished for a time in Hell, but they will eventually enter paradise on account of their belief that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad
saws
is his messenger.
- A Non-Muslim who knows that Islam is the truth and rejects it will not enter paradise.
- A person who is not aware of Islam will be tested by Allah on the day of judgement and they will enter either paradise or Hell based on whether or not they pass the test.
If we call these groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, we know that only group 3 will definitely enter Hellfire forever, whilst groups 1 and 2 are ‘safe’ in the long-run and group 4 is undecided. Let’s say for the sake of argument that Allah decides to forgive group 4 and put them all into Paradise and just focus on group 3 for the moment.
What percentage of the worlds non-Muslim population converts to Islam during their lifetime? That percentage is extremely small, so that roughly 99% of them are doomed to eternal torment from birth, yet those born to Muslim parents are lucky enough to start off on the right path and have a much easier path to paradise.
In a study by the Pew Forum in October of this year, it was found that around one in four people around the world are Muslim. It is also estimated by sociologists in the U.K that only about one in twelve people break away from their parent’s beliefs. If we say this applies to the whole world then this is a fairly liberal estimate.
Let’s assume that all of the non-Muslims who break away from their parent’s beliefs convert to Islam and no other religion, whilst no Muslims apostate. That leaves 70% of the world (over 4.7 billion people) as non-Muslims. So let’s focus on group 3. So if you have not heard of Islam you cannot reject it, right? So how can we estimate how many people have heard of Islam?
It has been suggested that approximately half the world’s population lives in cities whilst half live in rural areas. If we say that people who live in cities are more likely to have heard of Islam due to greater religious diversity, internet access and higher levels of literacy, it would make sense to say that most of these people have heard of Islam. So let’s say all of them have, and that none of the rural ones have, which is a conservative estimate.
So if we assume that of the 5 billion non-Muslims today, half will encounter Islam and half will not, that means that approximately 2.5 billion people minus the one-in-twelve who converts to Islam, are going directly to Hell forever. That’s around 2.1 billion people or 30% of the world’s population. This is group 3, the ‘kafirs’.
Now, if we assume people
do leave Islam, around one-in-twelve Muslims, that adds another 150 million, at best, to group 3. Remember, we are not looking at ‘bad’ Muslims, we are looking at ‘kafirs’, those who will be in Hell for eternity, not just for a short-term stay before going to Paradise.
So of Group 3, approximately 7% are (born) Muslims and 93% are (born) non-Muslims, according to this very conservative estimate.
In the eyes of God, we are all equal. I have no more a right to paradise than you or anyone else just because I was born muslim. As such, my chances are the same as yours.
But even with a really conservative rough estimate,
you appear to have, as a born Muslim, a chance of one-in-twelve of going to Hell forever compared to just under one–in-two for a born non-Muslim, whilst the odds of being a born non-Muslim are more than three times higher than being a born Muslim.
For me, this shows that Allah cannot be just, because being born into a particular religion, Islam, gives you a statistical edge over someone who is not in escaping eternal Hellfire, which, when it comes down to it, is proof that a ‘Most Merciful’ Allah
cannot really exist.
