I am a Christian who has begun to study a little about Islam.
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa
Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked this
question:
I am a
Christian who has begun to study a little about Islam. There are a few people
who have answered some questions for me, and recommended that I come to this
site. What are the most important things for me to know about this religion? Some
errors in the Bible have been pointed out to me, but it is difficult for me to
accept. Are there certain surahs of the Quran that I should read first for
better understanding? Thank you for your assistance.
(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors
in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions,
comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Christian interested in islam
In the name of God, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever the Lord guides none can misguide, and
whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness
that there is no one (no idol, no person,
no grave, no prophet, nobody!) worthy of worship but the One Lord God
Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the
Seal of His Messengers.
Your Statement: I am
a Christian who has begun to study a little about Islam.
Beloved Sister, may the Lord increase your quest in your
noble search for the Knowledge of Truth and may He have Mercy on you and guide
you to the Path that leads to His Mercy and His Forgiveness. If you strive to study the approved way of
life called ‘Al-Islam’ with an open heart and without prejudice, seeking only the
Truth; The Lord God is our witness sister, you will find peace not only in the
life of this transient and short world, but also in your eternal and
everlasting life of the Hereafter.
Your Statement:
There are a few people who have answered some questions for me, and recommended
that I come to this site.
The
Lord Says in His Holy Quran Chapter 16, Surah An-Nahl Ayat 125:
Invite
to the way of your Lord with wisdom and excellent admonition and argue with
people in the best manner. Your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His
Way and who is Rightly guided.
The Lord Says in His Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah
Hajj verse 78:
78 And (O believers) strive in His Cause as ye ought to strive (with
sincerity and under discipline): He has
chosen you and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion; it is the
religion of your father Abraham. It is
He Who has named you ‘Muslims’ both before, and in this (Revelation); that the
Messenger may be a witness for you and ye be witnesses for mankind! So establish regular Prayer, give regular
Charity, and hold fast to The Lord God! He is your Protector, the Best to
protect and the Best to help!
Beloved Sister, when one accepts ‘Al-Islam’ as his way of
life, it becomes his obligatory duty laid upon him by the One Who Created to
himself be a witness to the Truth from His Lord and share his knowledge with
those who are willing to listen to good caution. May the Lord have Mercy on the people who have fulfilled their
duty laid upon them, and helped you towards understanding the Message of the
Lord Who Created.
Beloved Sister, just to introduce myself, I myself am a
convert to this beautiful and Divinely approved way of life called
‘Al-Islam’. Although I was born in a
‘muslim’ family, I was never taught or encouraged to understand the Revelation
of the Holy Quran; but rather, our religious life revolved around the rites and
rituals which the so-called priests and holy men prescribed for us. When I was invited by some good well-wishing
brothers to read and understand the Message of the Quran which the Lord had
revealed for the guidance of all mankind, I started to realize how far away I
was from the Truth of my Lord and Creator.
All Praise is due to none but the Lord Most Merciful Who had mercy on me
and guided me to leave the invocation, obedience and worship of man and showed
me the path that leads to the obedience and worship of none except the Lord God
Alone. Its been 20 odd years since I
left the religion I was born into to accept only ‘Islam’ as my way of life, and
The Lord God is my witness, never has there been even a moment in all of these
20 years where I have regretted my decision!
Today, I feel honored and humbled, that the like-minded
brothers and sisters who initiated this forum invited me to serve in this Noble
Cause of bearing witness to the Truth and inviting others to the Truth of their
Lord.
Your Question: What
are the most important things for me to know about this religion?
Beloved Sister in humanity, I am obviously unaware of how
much knowledge you have of your religion and the Scriptures you were born
into. But being a Christian, it would
be safe for us to assume that you believe in the common concepts of the
monoisthic Abrahamic religions (Jewism, Christianity and Islam):
- There
is only One Lord and Creator of the heavens and the earth and everything
that exists in between.
- The
concept of (all) His chosen and appointed Messengers like Noah, Abraham,
Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Jesus, etc.
- The
concept of (all) His Divine Revelations like the Psalms, Torah, Gospel,
etc.
- The
concept of the creation of (all) Angels like Gabriel, Michael, etc.
- The
concept of the Day of Resurrection; ie. an Inevitable Day of Justice where
the righteous will be rewarded by the Lord with His Mercy, His Forgiveness
and Paradise; and the evil-doers who opposed Him and His Truth will
deserve His Wrath, His Anger and the Hell Fire.
- The
concept of Divine Destiny; where the Lord God Alone is All-Mighty,
All-Powerful, All-Wise, All-Seeing, All-Hearing, and All-Knowing; One Who
has Absolutely Perfect Knowledge of the past, the present, and the future
and nothing, absolutely nothing, is hidden from Him. He Alone possesses the Power to fulfill
His Decrees and none in creation can frustrate His Plans and Decisions and
Decrees.
Thus, my beloved sister, in real terms the most important
thing, first and foremost, is to agree on the common terms and the above six
articles of belief shared by all the three monoisthic Abrahamic religions.
The Lord God Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah
Ale Imraan verse 64:
64 Say (O Mohamed (saws)): "O People of the Book (ie. Jews and
Christians)! Come to common terms as
between us (muslims) and you: that we worship none but The Lord God Alone; that
we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not from among ourselves lords
and patrons other than The One God."
If then they turn back say: "Bear witness that we (at least) are
Muslims (bowing to Allah's will)."
The Lord God Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3
Surah Ale Imraan verse 84:
84 Say
(O Mohamed (saws)): "We believe in The Lord God, and in what has been
revealed to us (The Quran), and what was revealed to Abraham, and Ismail, and
Isaac, and Jacob and the Tribes, and in (Books) given to Moses, and Jesus and
(all the other) Prophets from their Lord; we make no distinction between one
and another among them, and to Allah do we bow our will (in Islam)."
Thus my beloved sister, the most important thing to know
about Islam is that this religion was revealed by the Lord God in the same
‘line’ of the other Monoisthic Abrahamic religions; and in its essence, the
surviving Abrahimic religions of Jewism, Christianity and Islam have more
similarities than differences!
If one reads or has even basic knowledge of the
present-day Bible, one would realize the extent of the Wrath and the Anger of
the Lord on the Jews, who believe in all the Prophets and all the Revelations
upto Jesus (peace and blessings of the Lord be upon him), but in their
arrogance and pride chose to belie Jesus (a.s.), and the Divine Revelation of
the Gospel revealed upon him by the Lord.
It is indeed unfortunate that our Christian brethren chose
to follow the exact same tradition of the Jews, in that they rejected and
denied the appointment of Last and Final Messenger (Mohamed (saws)) and the
Divine Revelation (The Quran) revealed upon him!
Your Statement: Some
errors in the Bible have been pointed out to me, but it is difficult for me to
accept.
Beloved Sister, Allah is our witness, a muslim is not a
muslim unless and until he professes sincere belief in Jesus (a.s.) and the
Divine Revelation of the Gospel which was revealed upon him by the Lord
God! We mean absolutely no disrespect,
but it is common knowledge that somewhere in the vicissitude of time, the
original Divine Revelation of the Gospel which was revealed upon Jesus (a.s.)
was partly lost, partly distorted, and partly destroyed; and the present-day
Bible, although it does contain some of the original Revelations, has been
entwined with the hands of human beings!
The non-divinity of present day available Bibles are a
proof unto themselves, whereby there are the King James revised and re-revised
‘versions’, the Roman Catholic ‘versions’, or the authorized ‘versions’ of the
Protestant Bible, etc.! Besides, you
would agree with me that the original Bible was revealed in the now defunct
‘Aramaic’ language, and there is not a copy of the Bible where all the
different sects of even Christianity agree upon!
But our Lord God is our witness, no matter where in the
world you go amongst the 160 odd nations and the 1.8 billion muslims, you will
find that there is only one Quran; preserved, read, recited, studied and
followed in the same exact verbatim language as it was originally revealed upon
the Last and Final Messenger of God, Mohamed (saws). The Lord God is our witness, you will not find even a single
alphabet, leave alone a word, a phrase, a verse, or a chapter which is even so
slightly altered or distorted or touched from its Divine Revelation!
Because humans are obviously prone to error, and there is
more than enough evidence that the Bible has been altered by the vicissitudes
of time, it is only natural that when men started distorting the Divine
Revelation of the Gospel revealed upon Prophet Jesus (a.s.), errors were obviously
made!
Your Statement
(again): Some errors in the Bible have been pointed out to me, but it is
difficult for me to accept.
Beloved Sister, amongst the greatest evidence of a
Scripture being Divine, is that it is our ardent belief that the Creator is
Absolutely Perfect and Free from making any errors. If there is even an iota of an error or contradiction, then that
work cannot be attributed to the Lord God!
Beloved Sister, there are indeed many
errors/contradictions in the present-day Bible. We would like to quote only a
few errors/contradictions which even the most ardent believer in the Divinity
of the Bible would find hard to deny or accept! Beloved Sister, our intention is not to belittle or ridicule, but
only to prove a point that there is no denying that there are many obvious
errors/contradictions in the present-day Bible.
Error
example 1:
And
again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He
moved David against them to say: ‘Go, number Israel and Judah’ (II Samuel 24)
And
Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number
Israel. (I Chronicles 21)
- Was it the Lord who provoked David, or was it the
Satan?
Error example 2:
So Gad came to David and told him and said
unto him, ‘shall Seven Years of famine come unto thee in they
land? Or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue
thee? (II Samuel 24:13)
11. So Gad came to David and said unto him,
thus saith the Lord, ‘choose thee:
12. Either Three Years famine;
or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine
enemies overtaketh thee. (I Chronicles 21:11-12)
- Was
it Seven Years or Three Years?
Error example 3:
Jehoiachin was Eight Years old
when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem;
and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. (II Chronicles 36)
Jehoiachin was Eighteen Years
old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his
mother’s name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. (II Kings
24)
- Was
Jehoiachin Eight or Eighteen years old when he began to reign?
Error example 4:
And Solomon had Four Thousand
stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he bestowed
in the chariot cities and with the King at Jerusalem. (II Chronicles 9:25)
And Solomon had Forty Thousand
stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. (I Kings 4:26)
- Did Solomon have Four thousand or Forty thousand
stalls for the horses?
Your Question: Are
there certain surahs of the Quran that I should read first for better
understanding?
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah
Baqarah verse 185:
Ramadan is the month in which the Quran was sent
down: this Book (The Quran) is a Perfect Guidance for mankind and consists of clear
Teachings which show the Right Way, and are a Criterion of the Truth and
falsehood.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 16 Surah
Nahl verse 89:
We have sent down to you this Book (The Quran),
which makes everything plain, and is a
guidance, blessing and good news to
those who have surrendered themselves entirely.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 19 Surah
Maryam verse 97:
O Mohamed,
We have made this Quran easy,
and sent it down in your tongue so that you should give good news to the
pious and warn the stubborn people.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 18 Surah
Kahf verse 1-3:
All praise is for Allah Alone, Who has sent down this Book (The Quran) to
His Servant (Mohamed (saws), and
assigned nothing crooked to it. This
Book says everything directly, so that
he may warn the people of the severe chastisement of Allah and give good news
to the believers, who do righteous
deeds, that they will have an excellent
reward.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah
Baqarah verse 99:
We have sent down to you Revelations (The Quran)
that clearly expound the Truth, and
none but the disobedient reject them.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah
Anaam verse 157-158:
Now that a clear proof, a Guidance and Blessing (The Quran), has
come to you from your Lord, who can be
more unjust than the one who treats Our Revelations as false and turns away
from them? We will inflict the
severest torment on those who turn away from Our Revelations because of their
aversion. Do the people now await that
the angels should come down before them?
Or that your Lord may Himself come down? Or that the manifest Signs of your Lord should appear?
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah
Yunus verses 40-44:
Some of these people will believe in (The
Quran), and others will not. Your Lord knows these mischief-makers very
well indeed. If these people deny you, say to them: “I am responsible for my deeds
and you are for yours. You are not
accountable for what I do, nor am I for
what you do.” There are many among them
who hear what you say, but will you
make the deaf to listen to you, even
though they be incapable of understanding this? Then there are many others among them who see you. But will you show the way to the
blind, even though they be bereft of
sight? The fact is that Allah does not
in any way wrong the people, but they
wronged themselves!
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 16 Surah
Nahl verse 44:
We sent the former Messengers with clear signs
and Books, and now We have sent the
Admonition (Quran) to you (O Mohamed (saws)),
so that you should make plain and explain to the people the teachings of
the Book, which has been sent for
them,and so they should (themselves) ponder over it.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah
Bani Israel verses 9-10:
Indeed,
the Quran shows that way which is perfectly straight. To those who believe in it and do good
deeds, it gives the good news that
there is a great reward for them; and
to those who do not believe in the Hereafter,
it gives the warning that a painful torment has been made ready for
them.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah
Bani Israel verses 82:
We are sending down to you through the
Revelation of the Quran what is a healing and a mercy to the Believers, though it adds nothing but loss to the
workers of iniquity.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 17 Surah
Bani Israel verses 89:
In this Quran, we employed different ways to
make the people understand the Message,
but the majority of them persisted in un-belief.
Beloved Sister, as your brothers and well-wishers in
humanity, our sincere advice to you if you indeed wish to study Islam is to
read the Last and Final Testament of the Holy Quran from its beginning to its
end. Just as one who reads a few
paragraphs or passages of a normal book, or watches a few rushes of a movie
will not get an accurate idea of what the author or film-maker is trying to
portray, if one was to pick and choose a few passages or Surahs of the Quran
from here and there, one will get an incomplete picture of the Divine
Message. The Quran is all of only 600
odd pages, and if one chooses to read this Last and Final Message in their
search for the Truth from their Lord with sincerity and without prejudice, the
Lord God is our witness, they will be pleasantly surprised at its clarity and
wisdom of thought, at its beauty of literature, and at its absolute and perfect
Truth. And why not, for indeed each and
every word of this Divine Book is Revealed in Truth by Him Who is inherently
The All-Knowing, All-Wise Lord and Creator of the worlds and everything that
exists in between.
Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 14 Surah
Ibrahim verses 1-2:
This (Al-Quran) is a Book which We have sent
down to you (O Prophet) that you may bring mankind, by the help of their Lord,
out of the dark ways (of ignorance) into the Light (of knowledge), to the Way of that Lord, Who is All Powerful, and inherently All Praiseworthy, and the Owner of whatever is in the heavens
and the earth.
It is our ardent prayer and hope that the Lord God
increases your quest for seeking the Knowledge of Truth and guides you to the
Path that leads to His Mercy and His Forgiveness. The Lord God is our witness sister, if you take the first step
towards your Lord Creator, it is His Solemn Promise that He will draw towards
you in multiple steps with His Infinite Mercy and Grace.
Sahih Muslim Hadith 6499 Narrated by Abu Dharr
The Prophet Mohamed (saws) said that The Lord
God, Who is Exalted and Glorious, Stated: 'He who draws close to Me by the span
of a palm I draw close to him by a cubit, and he who draws close to Me by a
cubit I draw close to him by the space (covered) by two hands, and he who walks
towards Me I rush towards him, and he who meets Me in the state that his sins
fill the earth, but not associating anything with Me, I would meet Him with the
same (vastness) of pardon (on My behalf)."
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister