Difference in faith of Mulsim, Jew, Christian

[Muslimah]

Bismillah

The Empires fall into three areas: Religious, Political and Economic, each of which can liberate or enslave the individual, but more often they are enslaving people to fear, pride or greed. To be an individual, and free of the Empires intellectually, is the journey of faith. (at least that is what I have discovered thus far.)


When God rules over everyone, the Empires will be unnecessary.

Salam Steve


Excellent point and Sobhan Allah this is what Allah Called in Quran Fitrah (instinct). What u typed up there is actually the essence of Islam. This is a basic fundamental of Islam. Tawheed (believe in the Oneness of Allah).


Add to the three options, social. To be more brief what ever can create power that may drive one to run around in an effort to secure this power to retain the credit for oneself rather than Allah.


Look at the following Ayahs Steve which will explain much to u, if u dont grasp the meaning, will be more than happy to help:


"Say (O Muhammad): "Verily, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of the Worlds." (Quran 6:162)


Thus if u don’t do what u do to Please Allah and only Allah, be it eating, marrying, working, fighting, sleeping, praying, fasting, going out for fun, yes I mean this going out for fun, visiting people… what ever is included in the word life, it will be done to please yourself which makes u enslaved as u just said but to yourself rather than to Allah.

[Steve Consilvio]

Thanks Muslimah,


Do you think there is any fundamental difference between the faith of a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, etc?


Isn't it the purpose of the Spirit to makes us all one?


To be frank, I have trouble with much of the rituals in my church. I'm Catholic. It seems to me that there is far too much ritual in all of the world's religions. I see pledging allegience to the flag as a pagan ritual in what should be called "the religion of government." The distinctions between many religions are equally superficial, but through the Spirit we are united and led to God.


Does anyone know what I mean?

[mohsie]

Steve, I totally understand what you mean.


I'll just move your post to a new thread, and inshaAllah reply in more detail there later.

[Rock]

Steve Consilvio,welcome to the board.


Yes, there is fundamental differences between the faith of a Muslim,


a Christian, a Jew, etc.


A Muslim, a Christian, a Jew believes in the existance of the God(the creator


of the universe)but the others do`nt believes in the God existance.


For a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew,there is a difference in our understanding


to the concept of the God,and I think that this is the main difference.


You say" The distinctions between many religions are equally superficial, but


through the Spirit we are united and led to God."


And that is why we should follow one religion,we as muslims believe that all


these religions are from one God.


If you have trouble with much of the rituals in your church,do`nt stop going to


the the church, but try to know more and more,to think more and more untill


you understand the truth.

[Steve Consilvio]

No but to be honest, I don't care enough about these things to dwell on them.

I find that unlikely, since you seem to have a lot of strong opinions on what a Muslim "should" be.

[alliex]

Bismillah,


The big diffrence and the most obvious one, in the diffrence between Jews, Christian and Islam is Jesus.


Wasalam


Alliex

[radiyah]

Thanks Muslimah,


Do you think there is any fundamental difference between the faith of a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, etc?


Isn't it the purpose of the Spirit to makes us all one?


To be frank, I have trouble with much of the rituals in my church. I'm Catholic. It seems to me that there is far too much ritual in all of the world's religions. I see pledging allegience to the flag as a pagan ritual in what should be called "the religion of government." The distinctions between many religions are equally superficial, but through the Spirit we are united and led to God.


Does anyone know what I mean?

Bismillah


I will start my answer by a verse from The Holy Quran


Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem:


64. Say (O Muhammad ): "O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians): Come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but Allâh, and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides Allâh. Then, if they turn away, say: "Bear witness that we are Muslims."
3, Surat Al-Imran.


This is a just word, that we don not worship any one but One Creator, and that is Allah(SWT), and that is The God u worship, I do prevent to use The word God, because I have put a thread before to not assign the word God to Allah, since the meaning of this word in many english dictionaries is :


the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe



To us Allah(SWT) is not a being, to be a being it means that He is created, but Allah(SWT) was never begot nor begotten. He is The One and Only who is worthy of worship. So as u say that we are united through spirit to one God,This is what you are trying to say, and I will tell u that this is the essence of our relegion, no idols no partners, non but one Creator. Allah(SWT), Prophet Muhammad's message was for all nations and not only to Arabs. and to continue the message of previous prophets.


Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem:


47. Let the people of the Injeel (Gospel) judge by what Allâh has revealed therein. And whosoever does not judge by what Allâh has revealed (then) such (people) are the Fâsiqûn (the rebellious i.e. disobedient (of a lesser degree) to Allâh.



48. And We have sent down to you (O Muhammad ) the Book (this Qur'ân) in truth, confirming the Scripture that came before it and Mohayminan (trustworthy in highness and a witness) over it (old Scriptures) . So judge between them by what Allâh has revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging away from the truth that has come to you. To each among you, We have prescribed a law and a clear way. If Allâh willed, He would have made you one nation, but that (He) may test you in what He has given you; so strive as in a race in good deeds. The return of you (all) is to Allâh; then He will inform you about that in which you used to differ. 5, Surat Al-Ma'eda


May Allah forgive me if I said anything wrong, or if i offended anyone. If I am right from Allah(SWT), if I am wrong from myself and shaytan.


Peace

[Steve Consilvio]

To us Allah(SWT) is not a being, to be a being it means that He is created, but Allah(SWT) was never begot nor begotten.

My religion is the same in that regard. God is what always was and what always will be.


The problem for men is that we have trouble wrapping our head around this concept. Afterall, everywhere we look we see cycles of life and death. How does life exist without a beginning? How does a beginning exist without the previous life to begin it? It is, essentially, a "chicken or the egg" type question. In the Catholic Church I think this would be referred to generically as the mystery. The deeper you think, the wider the ocean you swim in becomes.

He is The One and Only who is worthy of worship. So as u say that we are united through spirit to one God,This is what you are trying to say, and I will tell u that this is the essence of our relegion, no idols no partners, non but one Creator. Allah(SWT), Prophet Muhammad's message was for all nations and not only to Arabs. and to continue the message of previous prophets.

I am curious what you mean here by "no partners." Aren't Prphet Muhammad and the prophets partners? Perhaps you could clarify for me the role/difference between Prophet Muhammad and God. It strikes me as very similar to the paradigm of Jesus and God. They are one, yet separate.


Also, the message of Jesus is for everyone, too. How do we resolve this potential contradiction? That is what my original post was getting at. If we are saying the same thing, then why aren't we saying them as one? Are we following God, or traditions?

[mohsie]

The problem for men is that we have trouble wrapping our head around this concept. Afterall, everywhere we look we see cycles of life and death. How does life exist without a beginning? How does a beginning exist without the previous life to begin it?

You see the reason for your confusion is that you are thinking of God as having "life". Of course, life has to have a beginning and an end, but Allah has no beginning nor end. He is the Eternal, the Absolute. The Qur'an gives the BEST definition of God:
1 Say : "He is Allah, (the) One.



2 "Allah-us-Samad (The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need, He neither eats nor drinks).


3 "He begets not, nor was He begotten;


4 "And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him." <i>(Qur'an 112:1-4)</i>


Saying that Allah has life would be comparing Him to human life, and clearly that is wrong.

I am curious what you mean here by "no partners." Aren't Prphet Muhammad and the prophets partners? Perhaps you could clarify for me the role/difference between Prophet Muhammad and God. It strikes me as very similar to the paradigm of Jesus and God. They are one, yet separate.

NO. Allah is not the same as ANY Prophet! The Bible says (sorry can't remember the reference): <i>Jesus said: "My Father and I are one"</i> ... Now that verse totally misquoted and misunderstood to mean that Jesus is God! If you look at the verses before it, you will see that what Jesus (pbuh) meant when he said that him and God are one IN PURPOSE i.e., they have the same purpose which is to spread the Light of Allah.
In another place in the Bible, Jesus says (sorry can't remember the reference again): <i>Jesus tells his disciples: "You and I are one"</i> ... So, if being one means to be the same physically, then, you will have to accept even the 12 disciples of Jesus (pbuh) as gods! Obviously that makes no sense! So, being one means being one in purpose. The purpose of Jesus (pbuh) and his disciples can be the the same... which is to spread the Light of Allah.

Also, the message of Jesus is for everyone, too.

No it wasn't. The messages given to all the prophets before Muhammad (saw) were for a specific people, and to be followed only for a specific time period. That is why Allah never promised to preserve any of those messages. However, the Qur'an is the ONLY revelation that Allah has promised to preserve till eternity. That is because the message of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (saw) is for everyone. As Allah says in the Qur'an:
And We have sent you (O Muhammad SAW) not but as a mercy for the Alameen (mankind, jinns and all that exists).



<i>( سورة الأنبياء , Al-Anbiya, Chapter #21, Verse #107)</i>


Hope that helps inshaAllah. I have more to say on this, but have to rush now. InshaAllah will be back in a couple of days.

[radiyah]

Bismillah


As i c brother Mohsie Masha'Allah clarified the matter, but I have a few to add.

My religion is the same in that regard. God is what always was and what always will be.
The problem for men is that we have trouble wrapping our head around this concept. Afterall, everywhere we look we see cycles of life and death. How does life exist without a beginning? How does a beginning exist without the previous life to begin it? It is, essentially, a "chicken or the egg" type question. In the Catholic Church I think this would be referred to generically as the mystery. The deeper you think, the wider the ocean you swim in becomes.

I thank Allah that your relegion is in the same regard, now to clarify more about how life exist without a begining:


Within the human being there is a great power of perception and comprehension, but the awareness of such perception is not from within itself, but from the outside world. Such powers have access to the outside world, and these are the five senses:

• Sense of Seeing
  
• Sense of Hearing
  
• Sense of Smelling
  
• Sense of Tasting
  
• Sense of Feeling
  

Also other connections which lead to phsycological aspects, like happiness and saddness, love and hate, pleased or angry, and so on.
According to such senses, and the power of reality they transmit, that we can imagine, acknowledge , analayze and construc and act accordingly, we can conclude main principles of an idea, and measure similarities and parallels between themselves and we cannot do anything more than that.


Now to clear the above, let us say for example, if those who are born blind, no matter how smart they are, or even geniuses, they can never imagine anything about colors no matter how we try to clarify it to them, because they had never before did acknowledge any of such color by thier own vision, if u say white, red, green blue, pink and so one, they will not be able to imagine a picture of such a color, unless they gain vision to nature so they can see the colored world as it is in front of them. Also those born deaf, the same they cannot know or hear what is going around them unless they gain his sense of hearing, and so on with the other 5 senses, to such principle we can measure the rest of our emotional senses, and we cannot know or understand its reality unless we go through an experience to fulfill such sense or feeling.


Now to sum the above, we can say that a human or a being can only acknowledge things in this vast universe through objects or things that are scattered in this world, and which is reachable and can be seen or sensed by our 5 senses, and if it wasnt for such senses then we would not acknowledge any thing of the outside world. Then we would have stayed in full ignorance, like a cave man, if he stayed all his life in a cave afraid not exploring the outside world, he will not learn or see anything more than what is around him.


In The Holy Quran such truth Allah(SWT) indicated:


Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem:


171. And the example of those who disbelieve, is as that of him who shouts to the (flock of sheep) that hears nothing but calls and cries. (They are) deaf, dumb and blind. So they do not understand.
2, Surat Al-Baqara


22. Verily! The worst of (moving) living creatures with Allâh are the deaf and the dumb, those who understand not (i.e. the disbelievers).






Maybe if we were given other senses than the ones we have, we could have seen things that we cannot see or acknowledge. The human brain created many machines and gadgets that help us to acknowledge many things around us that we cannot see or feel, like density, gravity or weather degrees and so on. that means that there is defeciency in our senses, and it could have been possible that we have such senses that recognizes what these machines furnish us with. Suppose we got the sense to feel the strength of minerals and metalics from behind veils and under the ground and in mountins, wouldnt we be wider in our senses than we are now? Do not other creatures have senses that we do not have? How inferior we are inspite we are the best and most complete in creation.


I explained much but to reach to a reality, that we cannot say that we will not belive in a things we do not see, or acknowledge, our own inferior senses are the only way to acknowledge what is around us and it is limited in knowledge. Science today discovered that the universe is filled with many pictures and realities that we cannot see with our own vision, it is also filled with sounds and voices we cannot hear, if we say that there is a place in the universe that this spot is empty has no sounds planets or movements, then a machine or a satelite pictured and caught sounds of such a place, then we cannot deny its existance.


Also if we think about it from the intellectual aspect, this sane power we have in our brains no matter how it tried to imagine things that is beyond its senses it will not be able to, because the intellect will still turn around materialistic senses which we feel hear taste and so on.


So at the end we reach to the fact that we cannot deny things that we cannot see or hear just because our limited abilities prevents us from seeing them, there is a Greater Power that we cannot see or feel with our limited powers and senses that created this vast universe that we live in, we cannot also imagine how the hereafter is no matter how large is our imagination, because it is beyond our imagination and it is beyond our abilities and senses to see, also it is beyond our senses to know how The angels or the jinns look like because we cannot see them.


There is a greater Power than all this creation that we cannot see Who created the vast universe that we cannot reach or see with our own eyes, The Creator of this vast universt, He is The Greatest, The One, nothing is like Him, and we cannot see Him or reach Him with our inferior abilities.





To summarize the above, we can say:


1- That our senses, which is our way to science is limited and does not cover everything that exists.


2- The ability of imagination in us is also limited in to the limits of our senses.


3- Our brains are limited, and it cannot recognize all the existing facts that we cannot see, even if i had to accept it by intellect.


In The Holy Quran we can find verses that summurize the above, and dividing the universe according to the beings into 2 parts:






a- World of The Unseen.


b- World of The seen.





As describr above, things that we can see and feel with our limited senses and things that we cannot see.


Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem:


22. He is Allâh, than Whom there is Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He) the All-Knower of the unseen and the seen (open). He is the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.



23. He is Allâh than Whom there is Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He) the King, the Holy, the One Free from all defects, the Giver of security, the Watcher over His creatures, the All-Mighty, the Compeller, the Supreme. Glory be to Allâh! (High is He) above all that they associate as partners with Him.


24. He is Allâh, the Creator, the Inventor of all things, the Bestower of forms. To Him belong the Best Names . All that is in the heavens and the earth glorify Him. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. 59, Surat Al-Hashr


8. Allâh knows what every female bears, and by how much the wombs fall short (of their time or number) or exceed. Everything with Him is in (due) proportion.



9. All-Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Most Great, the Most High.


10. It is the same (to Him) whether any of you conceal his speech or declare it openly, whether he be hid by night or go forth freely by day. 13, Surat Al-Ra'ad.


Now the unseen is beyond our acknowledged senses.


the seen is every thing that we can reach to it with our senses, wether by our own senses or through science.


Now I will ask you about The soul that is within us, can we see it or do we know what it is or from what it is created no one knows and no one will ever know, no matter how much researches we try to do.


Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem:


85. And they ask you (O Muhammad ) concerning the Rûh (the Spirit); Say: "The Rûh (the Spirit): it is one of the things, the knowledge of which is only with my Lord. And of knowledge, you (mankind) have been given only a little."
17, Surat Al-Isra'


65. Say: "None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghaib (unseen) except Allâh, nor can they perceive when they shall be resurrected."



This is the first part of the answer, after it the completion insha'Allah


Peace