ISLAM Q&A

hey no need to be more careful...compared with a lot of people mine included, your grammar is pretty near perfect. What do you understand by transubstantiation?

Matthew 26:26 - And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

John 6:53 - Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

I have a question. If it has been asked and answered in this thread previously, I didn't catch it.

I would like to know if itis true the Qu'ran says to kill the infidels? If this is true, can someone tell me who the infidels are?

Kafir (Arabic: كافر kāfir; plural كفّار kuffār) is an Arabic word meaning "disbeliever", "denier" or "concealer." The Turkish form is Gavur. In a religious context it generally means a person who is not of the People of the book, however it is often used to mean "person who disbelieves in Islam" or "infidel" [1]. The noun kufr means "not believing in God" or "blasphemy, atheism." In Fiqh, the term amounts to the equivalent of Christian excommunication. The verb, "to declare someone a kafir" is takfir. For example, the novelist Salman Rushdie was declared a kafir in the Fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini.


According to some scholars in Islam, the correct use of the word kafir in Islamic theology does not include either Christians, Samaritans, Jews, and all "Sabians"Citation needed who are covered by the term Ahl-al-Kitab, or "People of the Book," because they are considered recipients of divine revelation from Allah. However, other scholars, such as those backing militant Islamists, often do not make the distinction in their rhetoric and do often use it to include these religious communities, or any enemy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafir

Question: Who is a Kafir? How can a Christian be a Kafir and still be from among the People of the book?
Answer: A person becomes a Kafir when he denies the truth in spite of being convinced that it is the truth. Since it is humanly impossible for a person to determine whether some person is denying the truth or not, it is only on the basis of information provided by the Almighty that a person can be called a Kafir. In the times of His Rusul, He chose to impart this information to his Rusul through Wahi; however, after the departure of the last Rasul Muhammad (sws), people who have knowingly denied the truth cannot be pinpointed since the institution of Wahi has been terminated. No Muslim preacher is in a position to reveal the truth in a manner a Rasul is able to, nor can he ascertain who among his addressees is guilty of knowingly denying the truth. After the Prophet (sws), only on the Day of Judgement will it now be known whether a particular person is a Kafir or not.
It is evident from this explanation that the Christians and Jews and followers of other religions in times after the Prophet (sws) are not Kafirs; the right name for them is non-Muslims. As far as Christians are concerned, it is to be noted that they are basically followers of monotheism. They never admit to polytheism, though they are involved in it. A person becomes a polytheist when he openly admits that he is a polytheist, even though he may be practising polytheism in some form; the reason is that a person might be doing something wrong without realizing what he is doing; Christians, whether of today or from the period of Jesus (sws), have never admitted to polytheism. Trinity to them is in accordance with monotheism. Of course, we do not agree with them, but unless they realize it, we can only say that in spite of claiming to be monotheists they are involved in polytheism. Their case is the case of a Muslim who goes to the grave of a saint to ask him to grant a wish; we shall not call such a Muslim a polytheist; we shall tell him that what he is doing is something against monotheism to which he himself strongly claims adherence. Similarly, we shall not call Christians polytheists, but we will keep telling them that what they are doing is not in accordance with monotheism.
It is precisely for this reason that the Qur'an never referred to the People of the Book as polytheists though they subscribed to certain blatant forms of polytheism. The Qur'an only called the Ismaelites as polytheists because they admittedly subscribed and testified to the creed of polytheism. They strongly advocated that polytheism was the very religion the Almighty had revealed and claimed that they were the strong adherents to this religion.

http://www.renaissance.com.pk/octq22y1.html

Allah is an enemy to unbelievers. - Sura 2:98

On unbelievers is the curse of Allah. - Sura 2:161

Slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. - 2:191

Steve (as 41oo) wrote:

Allah is an enemy to unbelievers. - Sura 2:98

On unbelievers is the curse of Allah. - Sura 2:161

is there anything wrong with this? no

Steve (as 41oo) wrote:

Slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. - 2:191

it is clear that this is directed to oppressed people in a certain situation

That just gives me the relief of not having to waste my time trying to convince you.

Actually "all" Christians apply this. Those who do not apply this are not Christians, since the word Christian is defined as someone who follows Christ and His teachings.

And while we are on the subject of loving our neighbours, care to explain why the Quran displays prejudice towards Christians and Jews, and even slanders Christians?

Chapter 5, verse 51 of the Quran wrote:


O, you who believe [in the message of Muhammad], do not take Jews and Christians as friends. They are friends to one another, and the one among you who turns to them is of them.

Truly, God does not guide wrongdoing folk.


Now you may argue that "friends" (awliya) refers to protectors or guardians, however that is still a false accusation

however that is still a false accusation. Since Christians who risk life and limb to protect sinners and even muslims out of love for them completely disproves that verse in the Quran. I have muslim friends, and I would risk my life for them if I had to.

Actually the Creator you claim as mines is not what I accept, since I don't believe that the God of the Quran is the same God as the God of the Bible.

What is interesting is the similarities between the Quran and Mormonism, both claim to have received another doctrine from an "angel" who claims to be a servant of God.

An imperfect state? I challenge you to show me the imperfections of Jesus!

Then please do the same for the bible, because you have demonstrated thus far that you lack understanding when it comes to interpreting certain passages in context.

If you read the entire bible, you would not have asked that question. Truth is established and understood when taken as a whole, not in bits and pieces.

Then wouldn't it be wise to try and seek the knowledge of scriptures without being bias to it? I have ascertained from your previous posts that you haven't studied the scriptures quite well. Would you consider in all honesty reading just the New Testament alone and doing an in-depth study on it, and applying it to your life and see if any positive results will manifest? Anyone can read the scriptures and will still lack understanding because it is not applied to their life. Jesus said that the "Spirit of Truth" will reveal the absolute truth to you, and that this spirit of truth will reside within you. However this is not done unless one believes that Jesus died for their sins and that He is LORD. In other words, according to the scriptures, a person will continue to strive against the truth contained in scriptures and deny its validity because the "Spirit of Truth" does not abide in them because they reject the Son of God.

The Quran hasn't changed one bit? Care to explain this?

http://www.submission.org/tampering.html

Thats completely absurd, I can ask you the same question. How do you know that human beings who are capable of "error" have infallibly translated the Quran from its original manuscript correctly? Not trying to sound rude, but every muslim thus far has posed the same question to deny that Jesus is the Son of God, and that is what if the bible has copyists errors? The first translation of the Hebrew Old Testament into another language was called the Septuagint, Seventy scholars were brought to Alexandria, Egypt, to create this Greek translation. The work began around 280 B.C and was completed about 100 years later. This work is significant to us because it proves the Old Testament was canonized by this time. It is also important because its agreement with the original Hebrew text shows the translators took great care to create an accurate work. I can give you an entire history of how accurate the bible is and then ask you how certain are you in regards to the accuracy of the Quran, since men are not infallible?

Once again, that is your belief and there are many others who claim their belief is true, does this make it any truer? If a father tells his son that the stove is hot, can the son know for certain that the stove is indeed hot? Unless the scriptures are actually "applied" to the persons life, it won't ring any truer to an atheist or a satanist.

so be it, but regardless of what people believe in, all will meet their maker. And I stand firm to what the scriptures state

Furthermore, I am willing to bet that God in His "foreknowledge" entrusted men capable of providing us with an accurate enough translation to live by and to save our souls from death.

Its only when people willingly, deliberately, and biasedly look for a reasons to reject the authenticity of the scriptures that their hearts become hardened to its truth.

I noticed that you capitalized "NOT", doesn't that seem a tad bias? Perhaps I can tell you that I "believe" the Quran a big whopper and the greatest deception and most cunning and beguiling manipulative masterpiece the devil has ever accomplished, would you respect my opinion? Obviously not. If you believe that the Bible is not the truth, then it is obviously a lie and NOT of God, doesn't sound too respectable, does it?

Forgive me if I am being obtuse but I'm not sure what your trying to tell me and what the so-called argument is? Do you have something against priests not being allowed to marry, or having to have sons?

I do not believe and will never believe that God died on the cross. Who was running the universe, then?

(Moslems also accept Jesus).

However the cloud that spelled out the name of Allah looked remarkably like a cloud to me. And the photograph of snow on a mountainside which also spelled out the name of Allah looked remarkably like snow on a mountainside. Are these people serious?

Well I shouldnt answer this but a very simple google search turned up

Allah is an enemy to those who reject Faith 2:98

And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have Turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter;

martyrs.... Enter heaven - Surah 3:140-43

I have a question. If it has been asked and answered in this thread previously, I didn't catch it.

I would like to know if itis true the Qu'ran says to kill the infidels? If this is true, can someone tell me who the infidels are?

If you were 100% convinced of you belief as the absolute truth, you would have tried to convince the others until the end.
As Muslims, we will try to present Islam to others as best we can until we die.

John 15:20 - Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Matthew 10:14 - And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

This creates a problem: If a person applies 99% of Christ teachings and don't apply 1%, is he an apostate (according to you)?
If those who don't love their enemies are apostates, the number of "true Christians" would be very small indeed.

First, I would advise you to use the following translation of the Glorious Qur'an: Holy Qur'an
Secondly, our Guardian and Protector is our Creator, we rely on him. We also rely and collaborate with those who share our belief, namely Muslims. If a Muslim relies on a non-muslim, then he's disobeying God.

1) The verse from the Holy Qur'an you quoted, is a call far the believers not to take Jews or Christians their awliya, now if you pretend you can risk your life for Muslims, and a Muslim takes you as "walii" (protector), then he's disobeying the commandment of his Creator, and the verse is valid.
2) With all my due respect, if you, together with all Christians, together will all non-muslims of the world try to find an error in the Glorious Qur'an, you'll waste your time and won't find any.

Since I have absolutely no doubt that Allah (God) created you, I'll without any hesitation still call Him "your Creator".

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) received the revelation from God almighty throught the angel Gabriel (peace be upon him), who was also present in the previous revelations.
while Christians do not believe in the best of mankind [Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)], Muslims believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) is one of the best Messengers and Prophets of God almighty.

Galatians 1:8 - But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

I accept the challenge: when Jesus was in a human state, wasn't he in need of oxygen? isn't this an imperfection? wasn't he in need of food? isn't this an imperfection? didn't he (as Christians pretend) die on the cross? isn't this an imperfection?...

I thank you for your advise. But, the details of the Christian belief are explained in the Holy Qur'an, especially in the Chapters of "The Family of 'Imran (ch3)", "The Table(ch5)" and "Mary(ch19)".

While you say this, I personally welcome any question from your part on Islam. It is my duty to present what I believe in.

When I compare the nature of people who convert from Islam to Christianity with those who revert from Christianity to Islam, I can see the following:
1) From Islam to Christianity: people with very little knowledge and sometimes very poor people who are (excuse-me) paid to leave their religion. Generally, the number of people who quit Islam to Christianity is a small one.
2) From Christianity to Islam : important personalities, people of knowledge, scholars, missionaries... and the number of people who quit Christianity to Islam is a huge one.
This really discourages me of applying your advice (I thank you btw for issuing it). I rather prefer spending my precious time calling my brothers/sisters in humanity to the absolute truth, which is Islam.

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1-3)

My objective was not to hurt your feelings, but you wrote with your own keyboard that the story of Ahaziah was "the result of a copyists error". So do you have any proof that the "major doctrines" of Christianity also are not? That's simply my question.
Concerning the Holy Qur'an, as I said before, we already discussed on this thread the authenticity and integrity of the Glorious Qur'an. Your Creator says:"We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption). "[Glorious Qur'an 15:9]

On the Day of Judgement, our Creator will judge who is right and who is wrong.

It is not the question of willingly, deliberately, and biasedly rejecting the Scriptures. We want the truth to prevail over falsehood: "And say: "Truth has (now) arrived, and Falsehood perished: for Falsehood is (by its nature) bound to perish."" [Glorious Qur'an 17:81]
When you find that a book has many errors, then you have doubts that this particular book is 100% the word of God.

Acts 4:12 - Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name (JESUS) under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

My comment "it is NOT the truth" was on "Jesus son of God", not on the whole Bible. As I said before, the Bible may contain the word of God, but it also contains words of Prophets,
historians as well as many scientific errors and internal contradictions. Pray explain that one: How many fighting men were found in Israel? (1) Eight hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9). Or (2) One million, one hundred thousand (1 Chronicles 21:5).
Secondly, you can criticize the Glorious Qur'an as you want, but remember that you will meet your Creator on the Day of Judgement, "The Day whereon neither wealth nor sons will avail, But only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart;"[Glorious Qur'an 26:88-89]

Why does Christianity prevent priests from their natural desires (marriage, having children), doesn't this go against the nature that God created in people? And also, why does Christianity prevent priests from marrying and having sons (because it maybe goes against their purity) and then attributes sons to God (who is the Most Pure and is far from any imperfection)?