I have a lot of great friends from a variety of religions, best evidenced by the outpouring of support, affection and prayers when my wife had major cancer surgery last month. I was truly touched when I received word of prayer services in churches, mosques and synagogues literally from around the world. Words cannot express the depth of our gratitude for all your earnest kindness. My wife was particularly moved to learn that across her birth country of Pakistan and the Middle East, food was donated and hungry people were fed in her name. God bless you all.
But my agnostic friends also deserve a shout-out. Because even though they weren't sure whether their prayers could do any good, they were in there with me throughout all the same, doing everything they could think of to help out too, as far as I'm concerned doing just as good of a job honoring God's commands that we look after each-other as everyone else did, even though they're not even sure whether God exists or not!
However, it's the prayers I want to talk about.
Because although my Muslim and Jewish friends didn't feel it necessary to clarify exactly which God they were praying to because everyone of us knows we pray to the same one. Many of my Christian friends -- respectfully, kindly and to my mind tragically -- felt they needed to assure me they were praying to the God of Abraham rather than to Jesus, because they thought I'd be offended otherwise.
And as far as I am concerned, that's mostly because Muslims for the last thousand years have consistently failed to live up to either the commands of the Quran or the example of Muhammad regarding interfaith relations, and thereby have warped the development of both major world religions, leading up to the growing and unnecessary conflict we see developing between Islam and Christianity today.
Frankly, it's gotten so bad between us all that I even have to clarify my admission that I have great Jewish and Christian friends. Because extremist Muslims and extremist non-Muslims alike will tell me I can't because the Quran says Muslims shouldn't be friends with Jews or Christians.
The verse they're talking about is 5:51, which many translate as if it says, "O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and Christians for friends (awliyaa). They are friends one to another. He among you who taketh them for friends is (one) of them. Lo! Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk."
But they do so in woeful ignorance of the real meaning of the word awliyaa, because it doesn't mean "friend" at all. It's actually something much closer to "protector," "helper" or "guardian." It is from a family of words that mean "leader" or even "crown."
In ancient times, a person's awliyaa was an important role more akin to a modern day power of attorney. In that context, the command isn't against having friends among Jews or Christians, it's against putting our destiny into their hands: something that remains good advice to Muslims today.
But the way that command is willfully mis-translated by conflict seeking Muslims and non-Muslims alike speaks not just to how far we've all stepped off the path to peace God's prophets promote, but also how easy it would be for us to step back on if we're willing to listen.
In simplest terms, the question we have to ask ourselves is this: Does God care so much which team we play for, or does he care more about how we play the game?
Muslim/Christian religious chauvinism's not new, and it's not one-sided. In his "Narnia Chronicles," C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite Christian writers, wrote about a "false-God-follower" who, when he met the character Lewis thought represented the true God, was told: "I take to me the services which thou hast done to Tash [the false God] ... if any man swear by him and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him."
The thing is, in that series, the Calormen --who worshipped Tash-- obviously played to the worst anti-Arab stereotypes, demonstrating that Lewis wasn't immune to prejudice, but he made an important point about faith, which he clarified:
"I think that every prayer which is sincerely made even to a false god, or to a very imperfectly conceived true God, is accepted by the true God and that Christ saves many who do not think they know him. For He is (dimly) present in the good side of the inferior teachers they follow. In the parable of the Sheep and Goats those who are saved do not seem to know that they have served Christ."
Because Muhammad liked Christians! And he liked and respected Jews and Judaism, too. (If you're interested, Google "Mukhayriq" and the Constitution of Medina.) His uncle Waraqah, the first person who declared his prophethood, likely remained a Christian til the day he died! What he didn't like was Christians and Jews who said one thing and did another, but he disliked Muslims who did that even more.
But more important from an Islamic perspective than his personal feelings were the way he treated Christians, and the promises he made them. The biggest theological difference between Islam and Christianity has to be belief in the Trinity, and that's the main doctrinal point the Quran takes issue with: few Christians today recall that belief in the Trinity wasn't even part of Christianity until the fourth century A.D., or realize that today's Muslims are likely much closer to the beliefs the earliest Christians held dear than today's Christians are.
But belief in the Trinity was taking hold among Christians at the time of Muhammad, and he had to deal with many Christians who not only believed that God could be Three as well as One, but also the belief that Jesus was God as well. Did he condemn them or abuse them for it? Absolutely not!
In fact, when the Christians of Najran came to Medina to debate theology, they quite respectfully asked permission to leave the city to worship the Christ. And even more respectfully, Muhammad told them they didn't have to leave the city at all, and invited them to use his own mosque for their worship! Because Muhammad knew that even though their belief was wrong, it was sincere, and like C.S. Lewis, among many others, he too knew that all good prayers and good deeds go to the same good place and the same good purpose, regardless of how much we know about it. And when they left Medina -- still Christians -- he promised them Muslim protection for their freedom of religion forever.
I often pose "dogmatic" believers a simple question: If I raised my children on a desert island, with no other influence but mine, to believe God wanted nothing more than for them to paint their bellies blue, and if they died with blue-tinged abdomens, would God punish my children or me? You'd be surprised how many figure out some way to justify God punishing us all.
Muhammad, on the other hand, didn't care so much about doctrinal purity. In fact, there's a Christian monastery that's been at the foot of Mount Sinai for the last 1,500 years, which cherishes a document that was dictated by Muhammad and transcribed by Ali (whom Shiite Muslims also revere) that promises Muslim protection for Christians and for Christianity, a promise they made binding on all Muslims everywhere till the end of time.
"This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far, we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them.
No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries.
No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate.
No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray.
Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (the end of the world)."
Now, I think the reason why believers find themselves in conflict with other believers so often is a simple one: The one belief everyone shares, but that divides us from one another regardless, is that we're right about what we believe and we think it matters.
But how much do we know about exactly what Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael believed about God, beyond believing God was One and, as such, above believer's polytheistic playing-one-God-against-another manipulations? Did Moses think God's covenant was only with the children of Israel, or did David think Jerusalem's Temple was for Jews and Jews alone? Did Jesus need to indoctrinate either Samaritans or Roman Centurions before he served them? The answer to all those questions is a resounding "NO!" if you take the time to find out the answers for yourself.
And I think it's incredibly important that we all do so and soon. Not only does the belief that God cares WHAT we believe more than what we do about it divide us unnecessarily, it is also the belief that sits at the heart of the religious radicalism that's currently plaguing us all.
Thinking God cares more about your team jersey, about whether you play for the Saints or the Cardinals, the Servants or the Crusaders, than whether you play by the rules He's set out is
But I'm Muslim, and so I ask all my Muslim brothers and sisters around the world, and especially those who think they can or should abuse, mistreat or even kill non-Muslims: Does Allah really care so much what we believe, so much that He doesn't care what we do? Al-Baqarah 177 says otherwise:
It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in the Lord and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the Prophets; and giveth his wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and who sets slaves free; and who observeth proper worship and payeth the poor what they are due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the God fearing.
So what's my bottom-line? Heaven can be as big as God wants it to be, even big enough for everyone if He chooses to make it so, and I think it's my agnostic friends who so far have the best of it.
Because by not trying to put God into a box of their own making by way of their own believing they show God the most respect of all of us, regardless of their uncertainties, which quite frankly are mostly the fault of us "true-believers" because of the awful things we've done purportedly on God's behalf anyways.
We Muslims and Christians and other believers, on the other hand, are well on our way to making earth a living Hell for all of us by pretending otherwise. We should put that sort of self-serving, short-sighted believing behind us, before it's too late for all of us.
Ameen.
Follow Dr. David Liepert on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrDavidLiepert
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This comment has not yet been postedIf you go ask any Jew, Christian, or Muslim who God is you will get three different answers.. The Jews didnt see their Messiah when He came and they killed Him..
For Jews; Who is this referring to?
1.) Isaiah 53 (Suffering Servant)
2.) Psalm 22 (Crucifixi
3.) Jeremiah 31:31-34 (Old and New Covenant)
4.) Daniel 9:24-27 (Messiah to be cut off, the city will be destroyed, so the Messiah had to come before this event, which took place in 70AD)
5.) Proverbs 30:4 (There is a God, "What is his name, and the name of his son?"
The Quran was written hundreds of years after the Bible was written, (and even confirms the Torah, Psalms, and the Gospels) and the Bible gives no evidence of further prophets or revelation
Talking about Jesus:
-3:55 "; I will make those who follow you superior to those who deny the faith till the Day of Resurrecti
- 5:46 .. We sent Jesus, the Son of Mary, confirming the Torah already revealed, and gave him the Gospel, in which there is Guidance and Light.. Let the people of the Gospel judge what Allah has revealed in it. Also see 6:115
- 19:15 "Peace be upon him the day he was born, the day he dies, and the Day he is raised back to life. (But Muslims dont believe Jesus died, he was raised up to Allah and someone else died in his place??) 19:34 "..That is the whole truth, which they still doubt.
The Quran confims the Bible as the revealed Word of God, and Gods Word cannot be changed; 6:34, 10:64, 18:27. Learn of Jesus
And I think pretty much everyone's accepted that the Jews as a group weren't responsibl
Who do you say Jesus is?
Is he a man? A prophet? A messenger? The Son of God? Etc...etc.
I would like to hear your opinion of who you think Jesus is.
If you are honestly wondering what I think and why I think it, then please read my book, as my journey from "spirit filled and spirit led Bible believing Christian" to "still the same spirit filled and spirit led Bible and Qur'an believing Muslim" is well documented there, with every pertinent verse in both the Bible and the Qur'an recorded and commented upon. It takes over 300 pages to do it, but it explains why and how I can love all three faiths and all three streams of believers together despite the challenges of the world we live in today.
Because one thing I know for sure is that it get's better! And personally
Because to me Jesus is the:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlastin
Ali, was not the first Muslim! According to several passages in the Quran, Muhammad was the first Muslim:
Sura 6:163, Nothing is equal to Him. Thus are the commandmen
Sura 6:162-163, Say, "My prayer, sacrifice, life, and death are all for God, the Lord of the Universe. Nothing is equal to Him. Thus are the commandmen
Sura 39:11-12, Say, "I am commanded to worship God and be devoted to His religion and I am commanded to be the first Muslim". Muhammad Sarwar English Translatio
And please mslms every time we discuss with you from quran or hadith you claim some surah was misunderst
I'm sorry, but it's not an argument, it's just the truth.
You think so? Then you are very wrong wrong.
As I was born and grown up in an Arabic country, I speak Arabic and studied Islam in school?
If you read the Quran and Hadith you will understand that there is no forgivenes
In other words there is no way to know whether someone is going to hell or heaven or whether he or she will get salvation or not until their last breath. In Islam salvation is based on good deeds unlike Bible where God has already paid the price in full for the salvation of our souls.
Quran has kept its believers in dark but the Bible says that we can receive salvation or forgivenes
- Shouldn't that also be included in the quran if it was really the word and will of God?
Jesus knew, and it's why he could say, "forgive them, for they know not what they do."
You are correct, that no-one can gainsay God's right to Judge, but we can all rest assured of His promise to Judge Mercifully
And may God forgive you for what you do in error, and someday grant you Peace both here on earth and in Heaven.
My point is every mslm should believe in what is in hadith. They do that in the ME the cradle of religion, where Arabic the quran language is spoken.
Doesn't sound like Mad Dog Muhammad liked Jews and Christians to me.
JESUS DYING LAST WORDS: "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34.
Christ asks God to forgive His enemies, while Muhammad utters a bitter curse against those who rejected his assertion of prophethoo
On the early morning of twelfth of Rabi’ al-Awwal, the prophet’s fever abated and he went to the mosque, assisted by Fadl and Thawban, when Abu Bakr was already leading the prayer. Realizing that the prophet was approachin
Within hours, the Prophet lost his consciousn
“With the supreme communion in Paradise, with those upon whom God has showered his favor, the prophets and the saints and the martyrs and the righteous, most excellent for communion are they.”
The Prophet’s last words were “O Allah, with the supreme communion.
....'Aisha added: He died on the day of my usual turn at my house. Allah took him unto Him while his head was between my chest and my neck and his saliva was mixed with my saliva. Sahih Bukhari 7:62:144
I disagree. Are saying that the hadith is incorrect?
Two months after performing the Hajj (Farewell Pilgrimage
“There is a slave among the slaves of Allah (The One God) to whom God has offered the choice between this world and that which is with Him, and the slave has chosen that which is with God.”
“I warn you O Muslims to be good to the Ansar. They have performed their duty well. Muslims will increase in number but Ansar will dwindle and be as salt in a meal.
“Woe to the nations before you who worshiped the tombs of their prophets. I forbid you to do that. O people, the most unselfish of men to me in his companions
“I go before you and I am your witness. Your meeting with me is at the pool (a lake fed by the celestial river Kawthar where believers will quench their thirst on their entry into paradise.)
I disagree with your statement: "Does God care so much which team we play for, or does he care more about how we play the game?" I think that both are equally important. A non-practi
There is a verse in the Qur'an that says that "nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, "We are Christians
"Muhammad on the other hand never did that. He was respectful of other beliefs even though he KNEW he was right"
- I don't find it respectful to claim that Jesus is not the sun of God rather insulting to Christians specially calling them blasphemer
Maidah {5:73}
"They do blaspheme who say: God is the third of three (thalith thalatha): for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy)
Nisa {4:171}
"O People of the Book, commit no excesses in your religion; nor say of God anything but the truth. The Messiah Jesus son of Mary was (no more than) a Messenger of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from Him; so believe in God and His Messengers
Insincere people hide behind misinterep
He clearly painted muhadmed as a tolerant man in his quest to enlighten the people about the TRUE God.
These statements are the cause of killing and rightfully so.{5.64 Surah} "Unbelieve
Surah 4.56
Those that deny our revelation we will burn in fire.
No sooner will their skin be consumed than we shall
give them other skins
‘Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme’--
Prophet, make war on the UNBELIEVER
If you tell people these & more & you expect them to behave or read between the lines,you are wrong. You are giving a timebomb to a child expecting him to handle it well.
In the end this 'good' & 'understan
That problem's not limited to Muslims, as I know for instance how non-Christ
Throughout His revelation
Because our beliefs aren't in control: God IS.
‘Fight against them until idolatry is no more and God’s religion reigns supreme’--
Prophet, make war on the UNBELIEVER
That said. I know the verse but that was when muhadmed started his mission before he was rejected as a prophet of God of abraham or else how does anyone explain this?surah
This book is full of contradict
When you are fighting idol worshipper
What you call truth is relative. A 1400 prophet is FAR from TRUTH about this place, period.
You and I can argue but the situation before you were born haven't changed on the ground...p
Now, you or anyone who responds to this comment will likely say: "That is dogmatic! You aren't being tolerant!" Maybe you don't know the definition of dogma:
It means: A principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrove
The word has come to carry a negative connotatio
I have provided very clear proof of what the Islamic position is and I am sticking to it. That is the linguistic definition of dogma. As for this connotatio
In brief: I am for completely for positive relations between Muslims and those of other faiths, but Islam makes it very clear that it is the only acceptable religion. I am a Muslim and this is my belief. If you believe otherwise, that is on you, but do not dare claim that what you believe in is Islam.
(and that you're maybe a little long-winde
Brother, I've responded to you at the beginning of your post, three boxes down. And I think you've done a brilliant summary of the doctrinal/
Muslims believe that God is Eternal, Everlastin
Christians believe that God was born to Lady Mary over 2000 years ago, that God was obligated to die so that our sins could be forgiven, and that he is somehow 3 and 1 simultaneo
These two creeds could not be more different. Prophet Muhammad believed in the first and did not accept the belief of anyone who believed otherwise.
So, if God is not man, not a soul, not a spirit. what image of God do you get when you pray"
Empty space, a passing cloud, a molecule, the sun, a ray of light .. what?
God is God. God is One---God is Unique and without any comparison to anything else. God is not a man or a spirit or a soul, for God is the Creator of all material and ethereal/s
A golden rule in the Muslim belief is: Whatever One imagines in one's mind, God is different from that.
Absolutely everything other than God is created. This includes time and place. God existed before he created time and place and God still exists without time and place because God does not change. God exists without a place and is not dependent on time. (Ex: Heaven is a location and is created. God existed before heaven without heaven, and after creating heaven, God did not change to become 'in' heaven)
Our knowledge of God consists in knowing what befits God and what does not befit God. Among the befitting attributes
The Muslim creed is one consistent with logic and rational proofs.
I hope your question was answered supermoon. If you have any other questions, I am more than happy to answer them if I am able. Take care.
These verses are VERY explicit. Muslims do not equivocate on this at all, and whoever claims to be a Muslim and believes that religions other than Islam are acceptable is going against the Qur'an, and the one who contradict
You say: "Muhammad, on the other hand, didn't care so much about doctrinal purity."
This is a manifest DISTORTION and LIE. Your statement constitute
Muslims and Christians should seek mutual coexistenc
Interestin
However, if you think I'm saying Christiani
Muhammad (SAWS) on the other hand never did that. He was respectful of other beliefs even though he KNEW he was right, and respectful of other's practices even though he KNEW they were wrong, because he considered intent and sincerity too: just as we know Allah does.
He saw the big picture, one where you don't win by beating someone else. You win by serving Allah, the Lord Creator, God of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jesus and Muhammad all together, God be pleased with and give peace to them all.
InshaAllah
I understand that you are trying to develop positive relations between Muslims and Christians
First of all let me say this: I am a Muslim. I believe in the Qur'an and I believe in the Prophet Muhammad. I believe that Jesus was a Prophet, but that he was neither God nor the son of God, because being a human contradict
I am a recent college graduate from a private non-religi
It is among the essentials of the Muslim belief to believe that only Islam is the correct religion.
Allah revealed in the Qur'an in 3:19: إِنَّ ٱلدِّينَ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلۡإِسۡلَـ
Allah revealed in the Qur'an in 3:85 وَمَن يَبۡتَغِ غَيۡرَ ٱلۡإِسۡلَـ
1. You say: Does God care so much which team we play for, or does he care more about how we play the game?
This question implies that any religion one chooses is ok as long as he or she “is good.” This is the claim of perenniali
2. You didn't address my claim regarding doctrinal purity at all. Muhammad obviously cared about doctrinal purity because the Qur'an mentions in many areas that certain creeds relegate one to everlastin
Allah revealed in 48:13: وَمَن لَّمْ يُؤْمِن بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِه
“Whomever does not believe in Allah and His Messenger (referring to Muhammad) then certainly Allah has prepared for them (disbeliev
قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فى الحديث الذى رواه الإمام مسلم: "ما من يهودى أو نصرانى يسمع بى ثم لا يؤمن بى وبما جئت به إلا كان من أصحاب النار"
The Messenger of Allah said in a hadith related by Imam Muslim: “Whomever among the Jews or Christians hears about me then doesn’t believe in me and what I came with (the revelation