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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Why Islam? |
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| Asifa |
| 07/26/02 at 05:34:36 |
| [slm] Why Islam? I am a member of Islamic learning groups on internet. One Christian lady raised following questions to all members of the group. This is a correspondence between a reverted Muslim(from Christian back ground) and a truth seeker Christian lady. It’s a very long message but I hope you would find it interesting and informative. Queston: Why did you choose Islam as your religion? Why do you believe it is the one true religion? Why do you believe the Q'uran is God's holy word and is inspired? Why do you believe Mohammed (pbuh) is his Prophet? Answer: In one word: consistency, but allow me to elaborate. After trying to answer one question at a time, I found out that they are all connected, so here’s one long answer to all of them, God willing. I can’t speak for the other sisters, but I can speak for myself and God willing for some of those with whom I spoke about this. All the converts I know personally come from a Christian background, so this is the perspective with which I am most familiar. I believe you mentioned you were Roman Catholic, so perhaps you can somewhat relate to this perspective also. I and a lot of other sisters grew up in a somewhat religious household, going to church on Sundays, reading the Bible at home, being raised upon a base of Biblically-inspired code of conduct, taking classes on religion in and out of school. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but you asked what motivated our choice, and I believe it starts with that with which we were unsatisfied, which triggered questions and the quest for answers, which once not found in one’s place of worship, one seeks elsewhere. Many of us often wondered about the Trinity, and often asked about it during religion classes and encounters, without ever getting an answer which satisfied us. The fact that Church and State are separate didn’t help, although we all saw democracy as a good thing, compared to the ecclesiastic disasters of the pre-Renaissance period. All throughout our lives before Islam we wondered about the purpose, meaning and interpretation of original sin, the riches of the Pope and the Cardinals, the veneration and canonization of saints, the celibacy vow, the excessive decoration (some would call ostentatious ornamentation) of the church, the ritualistic unfolding of religious life, the adoption of pagan rituals into saint-worship and the like, the need for an intercessor (a priest) in communion and confession, the vilification of the sexual relationship between husband and wife (which is supposed to be legal), the sponsoring of the Church through raffles and other forms of gambling, the role of the Church and/or clerics in various scandals, the variations in the Bibles and Testaments, the contradictions with scientific discoveries, the ongoing debates about its Historical accuracy, its use as a literary tool (given that it was put on paper by different people at different times, each with a distinct style and approach to the Message), the counsels on the question of the humanity of women (whether they have a soul or not), the counsel and subsequent vote on whether Jesus was the son of God or not, the commercialization and appointment of the 25th of December, the compromise of veil (for worship) and fast (for Lent) in various Christian denominations, and many other subjects of intense questioning. All these baffled us and were inconsistent with what we thought should be a religious (ie spiritual) relationship with our Creator, who should know us better than anyone and should give us laws that are in accordance with our humanity, not against it. Many of these issues are strictly pertaining to the Catholic Church, but not all, and we found out as we searched for answers in other denominations. I for one underwent a very long search, which spanned most of my teenage years, discussing such subjects with teachers, priests, nuns, parents, and friends of other denominations (some of whom converts (whom you must know by reading our posts so far, are normally very zealous about “spreading the word”), missionaries who would come to our homes, neighbors of other faiths, etc.). I for one had a prolonged friendship with a particular Christian friend who taught his faith in a Christian school and would answer all my questions, send me pamphlets and was very helpful in all my curiosity. Yet his answers, though they dispelled some of my misconceptions of the Christian religion, didn’t satisfy other queries, with which I had difficulty, the biggest of which is the subject of the Trinity and the sometimes a-historic and unscientific contents of the Bible which betray the explanation of such a text as directly coming from God without any human distortion. Some of the problems are excused as unorthodox practices, others are caused by the manipulation of texts and interpretations of human beings who live in their contexts and allow themselves to be victims of their times, which happens to everyone, so these can be fixed with more knowledge. But the problem of the manipulation of original texts cannot be changed, so how to proceed? Many of the issues I had with Christianity were because of its lack of application, others however were more fundamental, as I mentioned. Some stopped believing in God, associating Him with all the wrong ideas that people spread about Him and His teachings, and coming to the conclusion that if that wasn’t as accurate or applicable, then maybe the whole of it (ie: the very existence of a God who would communicate to man) was an invention of these clerics as well (I don’t want to go too deep in this sentiment, since I wasn’t one of those who stopped believing in a Higher Power and don’t exactly know how these people felt or thought exactly, all I know is that at some point they figured out that they were just being arrogant and that it is inconceivable that all this wonderful science and beauty came by accident, and if it had, then it must have to begun from somewhere or something, as you all must know, even the so widely-taught and believed theory of evolution has its many flaws, holes and missing links). Some of us grew so frustrated with the views of “organized religion” that we simply left it and decided to connect to God on a one-to-one basis. Then the need arose to be part of a community, with similar value systems, codes of conduct and a sort of consistency or common-sense attitude with reality and life in general. Some of us would discuss matters of faith with friends, but when you stand for an individually-based faith, everyone will adapt it to his own whims and desires, and it is difficult to find any consistency, constancy and reliable basis on which to form a bond in relation to our belief in God, and if you do, then you’re right back where you were with your likes and dislikes of Christianity. At this juncture, some began to look at non-Christian faiths, other organized religions that would not uphold the Trinity, but would be along the lines of the overall spirit of the Biblical teachings (since many of them (with some of the exceptions having been already mentioned above) seemed consistent with human nature). Some looked at Buddhism, Native Spirituality, Philosophy (although these last two cannot really be called religions, let alone “organized”), Are Krishna, Bahaa’ism, etc.. I haven’t met anyone who looked at Judaism, simply because we respected the teachings of Jesus (peace be upon him) too much not to consider him as part of God’s Plan, I cannot speak for Jewish converts, since I haven’t discussed this with any of the ones I encountered. By discussing matters of religion with people who professed faith in these religions, or by reading their books, we learned more about them and for one reason or another were unsatisfied with their points of view, from the way they related to God to the way this relationship manifested itself in daily life. Perhaps they were too different from Christianity, after all, we mostly had qualms about the Trinity and certain adaptations, but were not willing to give up so many aspects which we accepted as valuable in our lives. Most of us, if not all, went to school with Muslims, and shared classes with them, assignments, free time, so we had the opportunity to see them in their daily activities and interactions. We all had lots of questions for them, since we often heard of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as a savvy warrior, Islam as an advocate of terrorism, and Muslims as oppressors of women. They were very open to discussing these matters, since it gave them an opportunity to counteract the effects of mass-media, with proofs from the Qur’aan and Sunnah. All of us became very close with some Muslims, because of their strong bond to God; their commitment to a morality which we thought was consistent with our view of humanity; and their lack of fear with regards to matters of truth and falsehood (ie: all forms and manifestations of shirk (association of God with other entities); the complete surrender to God’s will once every possible avenue had been considered (ie: doing their very best and leaving the outcome up to God); the combination of community involvement with the individual’s responsibilities (to God, to himself, his family, his neighbors, and so on); their respect of Jesus (peace be upon him) and his teachings as well as all the Prophets before him (peace be upon them all) and their teachings; their unrelenting belief in the Onennes of God (and all its implications); the belief in Final Justice (the Day of Judgment); etc.. These friendships allowed us to ask questions we wouldn’t have dared to ask otherwise, and it gave us the opportunity to see their teachings unfold in their daily routines and their individual behaviors and characters. One example of the issues we took up with some of these Muslims was the Hijaab: I for one never disliked the Hijaab, since I always abhorred the unwanted attention many women get because of their external appearance and the consequences this often has. So when a friend and I asked a Muslimah why she wore the Hijaab, she explained it was part of her religion to be seen as a person with intellect, undistracted from her feminine characteristics of beauty, I didn’t question the wisdom behind that, however I wondered if she wore it all the time, to which she replied with the exemptions to this. The exemptions are in Chapter 24, verse 31 of the Qur’aan (as I later discovered), and they, as I saw it then, upheld the deep union with family, and especially with the husband, who for once wasn’t being made to feel guilty for “desiring” his wife in a sexual way. This, and many other aspects of family bonds, interaction between husband and wife, responsibilities to them and to the community all came together, upholding what I thought was the perfect blend of individual to family & society, & vice-versa, no stone was left unturned. So we would begin to ask more questions as doubts arose: if this is the case, then what about this, and that, and the other? And they would refer us to the Quraan and Sunnah. So finally some of us purchased a Quraan, determined to find contradictions, this was too complete and too good to be true, there must be contradictions, these people are trying to fool us into submission, this guy Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) must have gotten somethiorder cellspacing=0 cellpadding=5> |
| Re: Mission #4 : Truth |
| wardah |
| 07/26/02 at 12:56:46 |
[slm] 'And we are closer to him than his jugular vein.' surah Qaaf (50: 16) and also; 'Be aware that Allaah comes between a man and his heart.' (surah al-Anfaal (8 : 24) why? because help me to fear Allaah and know that Allaah has the knowledge of our innermost thoughts, and intentions. Helping me to be more sincere in actions. [wlm] |
| Re: Mission #4 : Truth |
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| sakeenz |
| 07/26/02 at 17:36:24 |
[slm] So verily, with the hardship, there is relief, Verily, with the hardship, there is relief - I remind myself of these ayahs of surah Ash-Sharh when ever I feel overwhelmed in face of difficulties. |
| have been if I had found Islaam before. What a loss for my past, and what a discovery to which God had opened my eyes! Verse after verse, we would check it and go back, looking for more. There are verified reports of the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) being illiterate, and the accusation that he took parts of the Gospel and the Old Testament and jumbled them up isn’t consistent with what historicists and other experts (many of whom are non-Muslim, in case you were wondering about bias) have found in their research. The accusation of the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) being insane has been refuted by scientists who know that one who is insane cannot be as he was, and if he was a fraud, he would not need to do the things he did to achieve his goals. The Quraan, if you read it you will notice it, is not from the point of view of a man, and its scientific accuracy is undisputed, though the challenge to experts in all areas has been on openly in its verses for all this time and has yet to be proven wrong. A version of the original copies of the Quraan still exists, and has been verified to match the copies circulating in Arabic. The Sunnah has undergone exam after exam in ways that no other information has been scrutinized, and it completes the Message of the Quraan. Discoveries that have been made only in the last century or so, are proven to be in accordance with statements in the Quraan. A friend of mine once said that Shakesbear and Da Vinci saw things in the future that came true also, but did everything they said come true? Did they claim to be Prophets? Did they dedicate their lives to the upholding and teaching of these statements? Accusations of impropriety are easily countered, when faced with the facts, historically and/or scientifically proven. Why would a man go through so much hardship and not want a dime? Why would a man put himself through so much to deceive people and then die at the peak of his fame yet with no riches nor vanity to go with it? Why would he chastise himself in a book that he supposedly wrote to prove that he is invincible? Why would he limit the amount of wives he could have if he was such a womanizer? How would he know things about the future with such accuracy? Why have all the statements in the Quraan been so welcoming to people’s lifestyles and views throughout the world incessantly during the last 1400 years? How is it that what was said then is not only applicable, but useful and indeed yet to be surpassed in quality today? Why is it that my experiences as a Christian, and those of my friends found all their solutions in this book? Why is it that I, as a highly educated, head-strong woman, found all the countenance, all the serenity and all the solutions to my complex life and death issues in this religion? Why is it that as God increases my knowledge of Islam and other secular subjects my faith increases, and as I continue to live my life as a Muslimah, the path of Islaam only reaffirms its accuracy and truth to me? Why do I continue to see that so many problems would be solved if you could see this too? Am I deluded? Am I insane? Are 1.2 billion plus people of this world out of their minds? I don’t know, but I can tell you that some things cannot be explained in a million words, but that Islam is the truth I swear, because I live it, because I learn and continue to be amazed at it, because I found myself and my truth in it and because it satisfies every doubt, every uncertainty and every cell of my body and mind. In conclusion, if you are looking for facts, you can find them in the writings of experts who studied the subject and you will discover that they uphold the veracity of Islam. If you are looking for universal explanations of faith, you won’t find them, faith is subjective to some degree, and it cannot be explained. If you are looking for imperfection, you won’t find it, but the Quraan challenges you to this, and you may search all you want. My reverted friends and I challenged Islam and Muslims and were defeated, anything we could come up with had its explanation and this explanation not only countered our attack, but brought meaning to our queries in ways we never expected. So I encourage you to accept the Quraan’s challenge: question, dig, perhaps then any explanation of why we accepted Islam will become self-evident to you too. Jaza Allah Khair Asifa |
| NS |
| Re: Why Islam? |
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| Traveler |
| 07/26/02 at 06:21:16 |
| [slm] I have never read such a comprehensive explaination ever. Truly amazing. |
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