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The Fundamentals of Christianity and Islam
After reading many postings on Christian newsgroups and Muslim
newsgroups I have noticed there are many posts which are aimed at
converting people from one faith to their own faith but very little
effort being made to understand the differences between the
Monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Above all
there is a mass of postings made by Christians attempting to teach
Muslims the message of Jesus and Christianity. I myself am a Muslim
(Islam) and find it very disturbing that so many Christians seem to
have little to no understanding of just what it is that Muslims
believe.
Perhaps as a Christian you have no wish to understand either since you
have found a set of teachings that you believe are the truth and have
therefore dismissed all other religions as being false religions. As a
Muslim my religion is Islam and the scripture that I try to live my
life by is the Qur'an. In the Qur'an it is written that humans should
question all things and that God expects and encourages this as the way
to find truth. Like Christians we also believe that when you here the
truth (be it gods will) you will know it and recognize it if you use
reason. I am sure that as Christians you will believe the same thing
since to encourage blind belief in something is simply to encourage
mental suicide. The aim of writing this post is not to attempt to
convert Christians to Islam but to point out a difference in beliefs
that will hopefully bring about greater understanding and harmony
between the two faiths...As a Christian you can only benefit by knowing
the mindset of someone of a different faith...who knows you may even
end up converting someone with this information.
I know that I have benefited by reading Bible text to understand
where Christian beliefs and mentality is coming from. I am about to
attempt to give a crash course on the central Muslim belief without
boring you with pages and pages of detail...I am going to try to
explain why I choose Islam over Christianity as my religion. Before I
put my case I would like to repeat that both Christians and Muslims
believe that when you here truth you know it and cannot find fault in
it nor deny it. As a Muslim I believe that gods people do not live in
one grouping of people on the planet...ie.....come judgment day it is
not going to be all those who called themselves Muslims, or Christians,
or Jews that are going to ascend to heaven but it will be a very mixed
composition of people that does not take into account such superficial
things as religious label be it Jew Christian or Muslim, country of
residence, or color of skin, Everyone's fate will be decided by their
actions and the words that flow from their hands and lips. I believe
this is what the prophets were teaching in scripture...one such example
being Jesus when he implied: not all who come with my message are of
Gods people (or something to that effect). Everyone's fate will be
determined by Gods judgment and not human judgment since God is the
knower of all things both seen and unseen in the heart. To suggest such
a theory as come judgment day all the Muslims/Christians/Jews living in
such and such a country will be "the righteous" and all the rest will
face the punishment of God for their sins is a very simplistic black
and white view and is far away from a rational mind and the teachings
of any religious texts. It is also a very dangerous fanatical way of
thinking. Life would be a lot easier if everyone's labels matched the
way they behaved and what was in their hearts but sadly this is far
from reality. I think the following quote sums up this belief:
"Religion is not a club you can join. Your religion is something you
will drift in and out of throughout your life dependant on your
behavior. Your fate salvation and guidance in this life and the next
are not decided by the label you go by. be it agnostic Christian, Jew,
or Muslim, but by your actions, the words that flow from your lips, and
what you truly believe in your heart. This is my religion, your
religion, and everybody's religion......the name of this religion and
teaching is XXXXX"
Of course this viewpoint is not unique to Islam, which is why I put
XXXXX instead of Islam, I'm sure many Christians reading this can
relate to this wisdom when they read it, and I'm sure many would tell
me this is Christianity too.
Many Christians would be surprised at reading the Qur'an.......the
scripture is very much the same as the bible and tells the same stories
of the profits and has the same moral messages...sometimes with slight
variation in historic events but mostly the same. Muslims Claim that
Mohamed was the last profit and was given the message of God so that he
can correct the human Corruption of the original message of the
prophets before him, much the same as Christians believe Jesus was
given the message of God to confirm what the Jews had already
received.........The question begs to be asked What was this message
that god wants us to understand? you can only look at the scripture of
the Jews, Christians, and Muslims to decide....what were the prophets
teaching? What is the common theme found in all the prophets'
teachings?
Here is the Muslim Version and the crash course in Qur'an!
Muslims believe that gods message was that humans should not make
partners with God. And that there is only one God and all praise
belongs to Him alone. As Christians I am sure this is not a new concept
to you either and that you have read this many times in your own
scripture. But what exactly is meant by "do not make partners with
God"?. Muslims believe that by making "intercession" between a human
and God is the one thing that defines being a believer or someone who
is astray. In other words by assigning authority/power to anything
other than God is in direct contradiction of Gods will and message of
unity. When humans assign symbols, statues, create hierarchies in
society with saints and kings, and create semi gods like the golden
calf the Jews created when Moses went up the mountain or are tempted by
other values such as Abraham was we are at the same time creating
division among people and causing people to see others as different due
to the limitations of our senses. If you take away Christian
crucifixes, saints (holy men), statues of Jesus, (holy buildings and
shrines), semi gods, pictures of idol worship and all forms of
"Partners with God" what differences are remaining between those that
believe in God???......... NONE! If these semi dietys were removed the
world would have only one religion and total unification. All religions
seem to be preaching the same fundamental beliefs of right over wrong,
good leads to good and bad leads to bad, love overcomes hate,
generosity, charity, and abandonment of the things of this world that
corrupt us. There are countless expressions of the same feelings
mankind experiences to be found in a huge variety of separate religious
groups. Does any one religion have the arrogance to claim to have the
monopoly on believing in such things as peace, love, forgiveness,
patience, perseverance, etc?..........How many wars have been fought
and how many lives have been lost because of power being assigned to
the things of this life and people assuming they must be different
because they have different titles but are in fact feeling the same
universal thoughts? .....When you look around you will find that this
is the root cause of all seperation and predudice...People kill to
protect (so called) "holy" buildings and shrines, they will kill to
protect their fellow "holy" men and community because they have the
same religious label as him/her with no regard for the fact someone's
true religion is there actions rather than title. Even the instincts of
atheists will say that this is what turns them away from religion.
Atheists will often say they believe "something" exists but they hate
the stupidity of organized religion. One such example was when the
French government recently gave an order to ban all religious symbols
in schools because they said it was the root cause of all conflict
between the different faiths.... They even went to the extreme of
banning Muslim women from wearing head scalfs because they said it made
them stand out as being different from others.....Despite the fact that
the reason Muslim men and women dress as they do is because Islam
teaches them to dress with plain modest clothing that will guard
against being seen as a sexual object and so that people will more
easily judge you for your character over the pressures of superficial
beauty....So who is to decide what dress should be the standard and is
the most modest and the norm? If you go so Saudi Arabia all people ware
the same modest Muslim clothing and there is no one person standing out
from the rest!. ...Muslims believe that in order to find guidance to
the truth you must first give up all forms of "shirk" (partner worship)
and connect with Gods guidance directly without any intercession.
Muslims believe Gods central message was the concept of unity and that
this can only be achieved by giving up the catalyst "shirk" in all its
forms. It is the defining line between devotion to God and those who
have gone astray with temptation to invest in something other than God.
To become a Muslim, Muslims must say in the company of other Muslim
witnesses, "There is no God but God and Mohamed was the last messenger
of God" and also carry out this creed in practice by avoiding all forms
of shirk
Here are some other examples of "shirk
1. Listening to the directions of another person including religious
directions before listening to your own instincts.
2. Nationalism...since this involves following orders given by another
person's beliefs before listening to your own conscience given by God
3. Promoting someone or something above the level of ordinary man (the
opposite of modesty)
4. Promoting anything above its natural level....rocks, symbols,
statues and buildings etc which many people have been known to defend
with their lives and kill for.
5. Debating with another suggesting that you both believe in different
Gods....hence the saying: "Your God is my God, and My God is your God"
which is to be said when another person tries to engage you in
religious debate.
6. Giving admiration to another because of the position of authority
over others simply because of wealth, fame, or blood line etc.
7. putting your love and admiration into a sports team to the extent
that you will be hostile to others to protect your love of it.
8. The protection of a group of people based on their title.
Ie...taking the side of a person or nation of people simply because
they call themselves Muslim or Christian. The shirk in this example is
a case of black and white generalistic group mentality thinking that
all the good people live in one place under one title and all the bad
people live someplace else under another title. A kind of tendency to
judge someone/something as good or bad because of the label associated
with them. Idealistic thinking can be a dangerous thing. In this case
the mere word "Muslims" or "Christians" can become the idealistic
object of shirk An imaginary purist army of true believers that people
will support without question. The side you take in a dispute should be
based on the persons actions rather than their titles, since somebodys
religion is their action rather than their title.
Muslims believe that Jesus was a Prophet of God and that he taught the
above message of unity and love to mankind. Muslims believe that Jesus
was not the "son of god" or God himself, but was a man who had
weaknesses as we all do and was a "messenger for God". Many Christians
mistakenly believe that Islam rejects the message of Jesus. The truth
is that Muslims believe that much of the Christian text is authentic,
and that Jesus taught a message of Love, peace, forgiveness, charity,
etc and also told people that salvation will only be achieved through
him. "Through him" however does not mean literally "worship him" but
means to "follow his message and direction". When translating the
famous quote: "No one comes to the father except through me" we must
consider the circumstances surrounding Jesus at the time. We know that
there were many people preaching various beliefs in the lifetime of
Jesus just as there are today and that Jesus had to show people that
his message was the only authentic message worth listening to. And so
we have Jesus saying to the people the above quote. The above quote
however does not imply that Jesus is asking the people to worship Him
but it does imply that his message is the only truth and that no other
teachings or way of life are valid. Muslims believe that parts of
Christian texts have been corrupted by the idea that Jesus was God and
that he asked his followers to direct their worship at him and
therefore these parts of text cannot be relied on to give accurate
direction in life despite having a lot of text which gives authentic
good moral direction.. Muslims believe that Mohamed was sent the Kur'an
to put right these alterations in the teachings of Jesus. The same
status of Jesus also applies to Mohamed who was also a prophet of God
and also just a man with weaknesses like all of us. He warned his
followers not to worship him or his grave when he died. This is why you
rarely see a picture of Mohamed because obedient Muslims will not
direct their worship to anything but God. Muslims believe Mohamed was
born so that mankind was given Gods message of how to achieve unity and
the right path one last time and a warning for those Jews and early
Christians who had and will go against this message of love and unity
by practicing the human invention of shirk. Muslims believe that the
only true guidance in this life is found through giving up all forms of
"Shirk" in word and practice and worshipping God alone without an
intermediary. Muslims do not believe that the prophets of God taught
that to follow Gods teachings given through the prophets you must also
worship the prophets. Muslims believe worshipping It is the defining
line between receiving guidance and being on the strait path of pure
monotheism and being misguided. Muslims believe that when some
Christians say: "Jesus the son of God" or "Jesus is God" this is
assigning special power to an object/person of this life (shirk/ Making
Partners with God). It is a strong temptation in life for a person to
want to find the comfort of a symbolic focus point of some kind to
express their natural tendancy to give worship and prayer and request
guidance. The Qur'an teaches that this is Satan trying to tempt mankind
with the easy option away from Gods will instead of the more difficult
path of abandoning all "shirk" by worshipping directly. One such funny
example of this can be found in the Monty Python movie "the life of
brian", everywhere Brian goes he has crowds of followers trying to
worship him as a God. When he trips and stumbles and his shoe falls
off, his unwanted followers are quick to pick it up and raise it to the
sky and call it "the HOLY shoe". Mankind has been inventing religions
this way since recorded history. It is the law of association and
invention and is defined by the human trait of wishing to find what it
is the soul is looking for in this lifetime by creating a symbolic
reference to an idea we all feel inside (God). In an abstract way this
is the direct opposite of the word "faith" which is what the prophets
taught us to have. The Qur'an teaches that Jesus was a Prophet of God
and that Jesus gave a message of love, peace, unity, and an example to
not Split Gods Divinity with shirk. Muslims believe that man with human
invention has corrupted certain parts of scripture in the bible. Qur'an
teaches that mankind does NOT know what God is , he is unlike anything
to which you will hear, smell, see, or think of...Muslims believe God
is above the level of human comprehension,. When you take the belief of
"Not making partners with God" and "Recognising but not claiming to
know what God is" you have a very simplistic teaching:.....God exists!,
there is only one correct answer/reality and one God which is the seat
of all creation and events, , there is the creator and the created,
unity and peace to all through not worshipping anythiny but God
directly.....FULL STOP!....to simplify this message further you can
say: Something exists, and we can argue forever over which religion is
the truth but at the end of the day there can logically only be one
correct answer.to what creation is all about...An intresting point to
the gravity of shirk is found in the observation of disputes between
people. The next time you witness a debate ask yourself the question:
Is their any shirk being practiced by either side? .....you will find
that "Shirk" it is the number one catalyst of difference and dispute in
the world in one form or anouther. I have included at the bottom of
this article some examples from the bible, which in my opinion confirm
the scripture has been altered to contradict other parts which have
remained authentic to Gods message of unity. Muslims believe that
Mohamed was the last prophet of God sent to conclude the message of
unity that Jesus and the prophets before him taught and to put right
those that had strayed once again into partner worshipping in all its
forms but he was rejected by many without the chance of explaining that
he was not teaching a new religion but simply confirming once again the
original message given to the Jews and Christians and to warn those who
had corrupted scripture and unity with idol worship teachings and human
invention. You can even find the Christian Ten Commandments in the
Qur'an. As a Muslim I see a lot of idol worship being practiced by
Christians (not all Christians) as well as other religions...i.e.
superstition in crosses, the hierarchy of church organisations, and
all worship being channeled in the direction of messengers, shrines,
semi dietys. This to a Muslim is a direct contradiction to Islam since
God expects his followers to set the example of unity in their actions
and teachings and all power and Prayer belongs to God alone.
Was Jesus the "Son of God" or "God Himself" or "a messenger prophet of
God"?
The bible:
WORDS
Joh 7:16 Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but
His
who sent Me.
Joh 14:24 "He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word
which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
Joh 12:49 "For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father
who
sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.
WILL
Joh 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent
me, and to accomplish his work.
Joh 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but
the will of Him who sent Me.
Lu 22:42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from
Me;
nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."
POWER
Joh 5:30 "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My
judgment
is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the
Father who sent Me.
Joh 8:42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love
me,
for I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of my own accord,
but he sent me.
KNOWLEDGE
Mr 13:32 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Mt 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of
heaven, but My Father only.
Joh 7:16 So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who
sent me;
STATUS
Mt 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Mr 10:18 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is
good
but God alone.
8:50 "And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and
judges.
And So you have understood the fundamental message of Islam and the
Koran.
The Ten Comandments in the Koran
1. Thou shall not take any god except one God.
"There is no other god beside GOD,"(47:19)
He is the one God; there is no other god beside Him. ......(28:70)
2. Thou shall make no image of God
There is nothing that equals (like) Him. (42:11)
No visions can encompass Him, but He
encompasses all visions. He is the Compassionate, the Cognizant.[6:103]
"My Lord, make this a peaceful land, and protect me and my children
from worshiping idols. (14:35)
3. Thou shall not use God's name in vain.
Do not subject GOD's name to your casual swearing, that you may appear
righteous, pious,
or to attain credibility among the people. (2:224)
4. Thou shall honor thy mother and father.
. ....and your parents shall be
honored. As long as one or
both of them live, you shall
never say to them, "Uff"
(the slightest gesture of annoyance),
nor shall you shout at them; you
shall treat them amicably. (17:23)
5. Thou shall not steal.
The thief, male or female, you shall mark their hands as a punishment
for their crime, and
to serve as an example from GOD. GOD is Almighty, Most Wise. (5:38 -
39)
6. ..... incur GOD's condemnation upon him, if he was lying. (24:7)
Do not withhold any testimony by concealing what you had witnessed.
Anyone who withholds
a testimony is sinful at heart. (2:283)
O you who believe, you shall be absolutely
equitable, and observe GOD, when you serve as witnesses, even against
yourselves, or your parents, or your relatives. Whether the accused is
rich or poor, GOD takes care of both. Therefore, do not be biased by
your personal wishes. If you deviate or disregard (this commandment),
then GOD is fully Cognizant of
everything you do.[4:135]
7. Thou shall not kill.
....anyone who murders any person who had not committed murder or
horrendous crimes, it shall be as if he murdered all the people. (5:32)
"You shall not kill any person - for God has made life sacred - except
in the course of justice. If one is killed unjustly, then we give his
heir authority to enforce justice. Thus, he shall not exceed the limits
in avenging the murder, he will be helped."(17:33)
8. Thou shall not commit adultery
You shall not commit adultery;
it is a gross sin, and an evil behavior.
(17:32)
9. You shall regard the parents, the relatives, the orphans, the poor,
the related neighbor, the unrelated neighbor, the close associate, the
traveling alien, and your servants. (4:36)
And do not covet what we bestowed
upon any other people. Such are temporary
ornaments of this life, whereby we put them to
the test. What your Lord provides for you is far
better, and everlasting.[20:131]
10. Thou shall keep the Sabbath holy.
*the Sabbath was relinquished with the
revelation of the Quran. We are told in
the Quran that the Sabbath was only
decreed for the Jews. (16:124)
God, however ,ordered us to make every
effort and drop all businesses to attend the
equivalent congregational (Friday) prayer. This difference in day is
to distinguish Muslim belief from other beliefs.
O you who believe, when the
Congregational Prayer (Salat
Al-Jumu`ah) is announced on Friday,
you shall hasten to the commemoration
of GOD, and drop all business. . (62:9)
If you wish to find out more about Islam, I would suggest posting your
questions to "mainstream" Islamic websites (sunni) to avoid dangerous
sects which promote shirk and miss information.
Placing questions in Google newsgroups is not always the best idea
since the various faiths in the world go to great lengths to spread
miss information about each other in the replies you will
receive....much of which will be Qur'anic quotes taken completely out
of context and twisted to give different meaning from people of other
faiths. If you come across such quotations that seem to imply imorality
I would urge you to consider the following question: Is it likely that
a prophet teaching love, peace, forgiveness, etc would be at the same
time be teaching people to act in a unethical way?....or is it more
likely that such quotations such as speaking of lawful tactics of
warfare or law system are to be used in only a last resort situation in
the protection of Gods message?....If you study the Koran you will
notice that Koran does talk about law and punishment which to a Muslim
are a necessary way of bringing about a just society and protecting
fundermental beliefs...It must be noted that such laws have a strict
legal framework for deciding when enforcement becomes the last option
available much as people understand the concept of self defense in
Christianity in certain curcumstances. Such chapters in Koran are
easily miss understood if taken out of context and missing the relevant
information that accompanies them. Much of the information, which is
taken as being harsh by other faiths, is in actual fact describing
historical events rather than describing legal rulings which apply to
modern times. Islam is a religion of peace and not a religion of hate
as many will try to promote. If Muslims were to Judge Christianity's
message by the standards of a few people called the Klu Klux Klan WHO
BELIEVE ITS Gods work to burn black people alive at the stake we would
be fools, ignorant, and unjust to do so, much the same as those who
associate Islam with the actions of a hanfull of misguided fanatics are
fools and unjust. I think it is much smarter to judge a religion
through its text rather than through those who show the worst example
as well as judge people on an individual basis rather than as a group.
I would suggest avoiding all teachings that contradict the above
principles of mono worship if you want to learn more about authentic
mainstream Islamic beliefs.
PS. A FINAL NOTE: If this article has offended you in any way I would
like to point out this was not my intention to cause offence. I have
received a number of scathing attacks from those following various
Christian theologies accusing me of posting miss information about
Christianity. If my opinion does not conform to the same ideas you have
yourself about how to interpret bible scripture then this is because
each individual has his own mind and capability to understand concepts
in different ways.... Only God knows which translation of scripture is
true and so I suggest we leave it up to him to put things right when we
all reach the big upstairs instead of attempting to insult and attack.
I have no interest to engage in religious debate with other faiths
since I don't believe this is Gods will and the only reply you are
likely to get is "Your God is my God, And My God is Your God" also this
article is mass posted by multiple people and the poster is probably
not the original author anyway...The intention of this article was to
point out the many things Christianity and Islam have in common as well
as highlight that much of the dispute between the different faiths is
due to the limitations of understanding each other, which can be found
in the communities of all world faiths. I invite you all to do the same
as I have done and publish your own opinions on what scripture means to
you in the newsgroups of your choice.
Kind Regards...and hope my article inspired you with new
ideas.........A.
KUR'AN
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
[3:64]
Say, "O followers of the scripture, let us come to a
logical agreement between us and you: that we shall not
worship except GOD; that we never set up any idols
besides Him, nor set up any human beings as lords beside
GOD." If they turn away, say, "Bear witness that we are
submitters."
If you have mass mailing software please put it to good use and mass
mail this article to as many Islamic and Christian websites and
newsgroups as possible to help bring about a greater peace and
understanding between the different faiths of this world.