02-17-2005, 03:58 PM
Excellent point. You're right. To do all of this out of PURE curiosity would be a strange thing, indeed!
Earlier on, when I started taking this study more seriously, I really thought to myself, "What if I'm wrong? What if I'm wrong and they're right? What if my whole life (of following Christianity) is based upon a lie? What if, when I die, I am held accountable before God for not believing in the final revelation that came through Muhammad?"
So, I took it REALLY REALLY seriously.
Thus, I started reading and reading as much material as I could get my hands on. I have 3 different translations of the Quran, I've done study into which one's are considered better translations. I even bought a book called "The 130 Evident Miracles of the Quran". I was referred to writings of Jamal Badawi and Ahmed Deedat, quite a lot. I studied the various sects of Islam, understanding the differences between Sunni and Shia and Sufi, the Wahabis, Ahmadiyyah, etc., etc. Even signed up for some online Arabic courses so I could learn to read and write it.
ALL of this, I did, looking for the truth. Cause if Islam was the truth, I was going to go at it 150%.
Whenever I would tell Muslims the reasons why I didn't believe or explained to them things that didn't quite fit together, I was always told, "You don't know enough. You are like a babe that's still learning. You have to know Arabic; you must study tafsir. Read this book, it will explain everything to you. Read that article; listen to this lecture online. Read "The Sealed Nectar". You don't understand the science of hadith, therefore you can't speak on it."
ALL OF THIS RESEARCH was mainly because people kept telling me that I just hadn't read enough yet. Thus, I thought, if I just do all these things people are telling me to, then maybe I'll get what they get.... see what they see in Islam.
<b>In summary, all of this, initially, was not done out of curiosity's sake alone.</b>
The more I researched, the more problems and holes I found, and the stronger I became in my own faith as a Christian, to be honest.
<b>So, now... I still have some lingering questions and sheer curiosity of how Muslims deal with some of the issues that cause me to question and/or challenge Islamic beliefs.</b> And with the waning "search for truth in Islam", I also put a lot less time into it than I did before. Believe it or not, I ask fewer questions now than I did in the "early days".
I am almost to the point where I feel as though I've heard it all. . . . heard all the best arguments and explanations for this and that. When I feel that I've TRULY explored Islam as much as possible in order to be able to make a decision, I may stop posting at all. I simply don't want to "miss" anything just because I didn't ask the right question or the right person.
<b>I DO enjoy the dialogue and exchange of knowledge and information. I like talking to people who aren't just like me or who don't believe as I do. That's all learning and understanding other people</b>. So, that's part of it, too.