For those who may not know, we are in the midst of National Bible Week, sponsored by the National Bible Association. This is a week, especially identified to raise awareness of the Bible's importance and relevance to the nation and the lives of individuals. During this week, Christians are encouraged to read and study the bible in greater detail. But Christians aren't the only ones who can benefit from it, right?
As an American Muslim, I fully support the goal and purpose of National Bible Week. It may sound strange to hear a Muslim honoring National Bible Week, but I'm not the only one. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community -- the oldest Muslim organization in America -- supports this week and calls on Americans to join together in this cause of reading and studying the Bible. This is just part of the effort the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has waged all year long, which is why we have hosted many interfaith symposia throughout the year all over the country on the topic of "sanctity of holy scriptures," where we advocate for respect and honor to all Holy Scriptures.
Why do we do this? One of the core fundamental beliefs in Islam is to honor all revealed books, not just the Quran. Muslims believe in earlier texts in their original form, and the Quran specifically mentions the Scrolls, Torah, Psalms and Gospel. As Muslims, we are expected to honor and respect these earlier texts, which contain guidance from God.
Chapter 5 of the Holy Quran specifically illustrates that both the Torah and the Gospel were sent by God to guide people. Verse 45 states:
Surely, We sent down the Torah wherein was guidance and light. By it did the Prophets, who were obedient to Us, judge for the Jews, as did the godly people and those learned in the Law; for they were required to preserve the Book of God, and because they were guardians over it...
And We caused Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, fulfilling that which was revealed before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel which contained guidance and light, fulfilling that which was revealed before it in the Torah, and a guidance and an admonition for the God-fearing. And let the People of the Gospel judge according to what God has revealed therein...
Here the Quran tells us that it is not the Prophet Muhammad alone who has been sent as a Divine Messenger to call people to God. Rather, there had been sent to every people in the past a Heavenly Messenger who preached to them the same message of truth and righteousness. Thus it becomes an article of faith with Muslims to believe in and equally respect all prophets. By giving the world this sublime truth, Islam seeks to create an atmosphere of amity and goodwill among different faiths and to remove that rancor and bitterness which has ruined relationships between followers of these faiths.
Because of the honor and respect my holy scripture lays on the Torah and Gospel, I fully support the National Bible Week and its effort to encourage more people to read, study and understand the Bible. To do this is to follow the guidance of God. After all, it is said in chapter 3 of the Holy Quran: "And He will teach him the Book and the Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel."
Our desire is to bring people towards God, and to do this, one must understand their faith. I welcome all people across the nation to spend some time this long weekend reading and studying the Bible. And don't be surprised to find Muslims doing so as well.
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"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
I don't know this first hand, but if it is true that they are not allowed to go for Hajj in Mecca or call their places of worship mosques, in certain Islamic countries, then they should be allowed, for it is a form of persecution of a minority.
If there are other restrictions on them because of their religion, they must also be removed.
By a constitutional amendment in 1974, the minority Ahmadiyya community has been declared non-Muslim by the government and hence all members of the sect instantly turned kafir. Since then, the Pakistani Government is stamping their passports with "non-Muslim" tag, so that they may not enter either Mecca or Medina for pilgrimage.
When Dr Abdus Salam died in 1996, his burial took place at his family graveyard in his hometown Rabwa without any state honour. Fanatic Sunni clerics arrived during his burial to stop people from praying to Allah for this kafir; they prevented inscription of a Koranic message on the cenotaph. The local Magistrate wished to inscribe the words, “Abdus Salam, the First Muslim Nobel Laureate”, on his tombstone. But the clerics prevented inscribing the word, “Muslim”. So his tombstone inscription now reads “Abdus Salam the First Nobel Laureate”.
http://www.islam-watch.org/Brahmachari/Persecution-of-Pakistani-Nobel-Laureate-Abdus-Salam-Ahmadiyya.htm
Their declaration was a political move by the then prime minister of Pakistan who wanted to neutralize a threat to his regime coming from the Islamic parties.
It's a shame what Pakistan has been doing to these fine people.
Find more at www.alislam.org
What Muhammad tells us in his Qur'an, over and over, is that anyone who doesn't accept Muhammad as Allah's Messenger is to be considered an "Unbeliever" - no matter what other prophets the person might accept:
"Those who deny Allah
And His MessengersÂÂÂÂ, and (those
Who) wish to separate
Allah from His MessengersÂÂÂÂ,
Saying: 'We believe in some
But reject others':
And (those who) wish
To take a course midway -
They are in truth
(Equally) UnbelieverÂÂÂÂs."
( Surah 4: 150-151)
The plain meaning of this is that if a person doesn't believe Muhammad is Allah's Messenger, then according to the Qur'an, the person is an "UnbelieverÂÂ."
Again:
"Only those are Believers
Who have believed in Allah
And His Messenger, and have
Never since doubted"
(Surah 49: 15)
And the Qur'an never tires of repeating that "Unbelievers" will be made to suffer the agonizing "humiliating punishment" of spending all eternity in a blazing fire.
That is an inclusive message, which places the context of 150-151
"Disbelievers will wear garments of fire, boiling fluid will be poured on their heads, their bellies and skin will be melted, they will be tormented with iron hooks, and when they try to escape they will be driven back with the taunt: Taste the doom of burning."
Quran 22:19-22
What kind of messages are these?
I happen to disbelieve the "revelations" of the Quran, and I find attempts at coercion of this sort appalling.
That is an inclusive message, which places the context of 150-151 as a declaration against those that would attempt to work against those who have faith by discrediting a specific messenger.
You have only cited Al-Hujraat 15 (49:15) in part. The full verse is: "Only those are Believers who have believed in Allah and His Messenger and have never since doubted but have striven with their belongings and their persons in the Cause of Allah: Such are the sincere ones."
The verse speaks to the perseverance of the believers, and makes no disparaging remarks about non-believers.
It is very clear from the words of the verse if that if a person never accepted Muhammad as Allah's Messenger, then the person never qualified as a "Believer" at all, according to Muhammad's Qur'an.
The "disparaging remarks," i.e. the graphic descriptions of eternal torment promised for those who refuse to accept the Quran's "message of peace," are contained in many other passages.
You seem to think that it is significant that an individual verse does not disparage disbelievers - as if that means that Islam does not disparage disbelievers. There are many other verses that provide the missing disparagement.
I have asked them in another post what I did wrong, but here, I will try to remember those comments and re-post:
We live in a world of many religious traditions. Any by reading and reflecting on "other" scriptures than our own, we develop a better understanding of those traditions that are different at the exoteric levels, but converge at the esoteric levels, that is, in the realm of formless meaning (inner dimensions).
While the mainstream Muslims and the Ahmadi Muslims differ on the nature of Ahmadi's leader, Ghulam Ahmad, it is time for all of us to go beyond our differences and recognize the positive contributions all Muslims -- Ahmadis and non-Ahmadis -- are making.
We will realize that at the deepest esoteric levels, we all experience the same Love, Peace and Joy.
It has become necessary for the non-Ahmadi Muslims to welcome the Ahmadi Muslims back into the family, for their existence is Providential.
We can go beyond the nature of Ghulam Ahmad and agree to disagree with each other on that.
If the Ahmadi Muslims accept him as Christ in his second coming, then that's fine.
While the Ahmadi Muslims are making an effort to study the Bible, the non-Ahmadi and Ahmadi Muslims can also get together to develop a better understanding of each other and find common grounds, which are plenty.
As far as I can tell, the article has absolutely nothing to do with your theological disagreements with Ahmadiyyas.
Take care.
We live in an age when we need to focus more on the inner realities of religions and celebrate the outer differences and sing the same song of Love, Joy and Peace.
If the following state was possible before the Baha'is and Ahmadis, it is certainly possible now:
My heart has become capable of every form:
It is a pasture for gazelles,
And a monastery for Christian monks,
And a temple for idols,
And the pilgrim to Ka’bah,
And the tablets of the Torah,
And the Book of the Qur’an.
I follow the religion of Love:
Whatever way Love’s camel takes,
That is my religion and my faith.
---- ibn Arabi
He would have added other religions if he was aware of them, e.g. American Indians', Baha'is, Ahmadis, Sikhs.
One needs to go beyond simply "tolerating" them, for to tolerate another religion is to believe it to be false yet accept its presence, much as one tolerates pain as inevitable but would rather that it did not exist.
We need to reach the inner truths of a religion from which its outer forms manifest.
With this in mind, it is important for a Muslim to study the Bible, but with the intention to dive into its inner realities, beyond its outer forms, for at the outer, exoteric levels, a Muslim will find things in the Bible that conflict with Islam, yet they present the universal truths at the esoteric levels.
The same must be done between Ahmadi and non-Ahmadi Islam.
It is a shame that the mainstream Muslims shun the Ahmadi Muslims, as they are stuck at the level of doctrine, that is, the nature of Ghulam Ahmad, whether or not he was Christ in his second coming.
This creates a barrier between the non-Ahmadi and the Ahmadi Muslims.
So, I repeat: what is needed is a deeper understanding of that Perennial Truth that lies at the heart of every religious tradition.
Politicians, however, when honoring the Constitution and its spirit, are also American citizens with the same rights to practice whatever religion they choose and participate in and personally endorse National Bible Week, the Nation Day of Prayer, etc. When and where these citizens exercise their rights, they should be protected in the same way as their fellow citizens right to not participate in religion.
2. If Congress members want to indulge in religion, let them do it at home. Keep religion out of my government. I don't barge into your church, mosque or temple. Why do religious folks insist on injecting their primitive beliefs into my laws, government meetings and government buildings?
Ahmadiyya Muslims Community look upon the source of Bible as holy and divine and its medium as truthful men. Here is a verse of Al-Quran which confirms this statement:
“Say ye: We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, and Jacob, and his children, and what was given to Moses and Jesus, and what was given to all other prophets from their Lord. We make no difference between any of them; and to Him we submit ourselves." (Al Quran 2:137)
Also in Chapter 3 verse 48 Allah says in Holy Quran, "And He will teach him the Book and the Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel."
As a member of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community I support the National Bible Week. More people should study and understand the Bible.
God’s love is universal and not a single life form is deprived of his love, there is always as peacemaker, prophet, warner or a messenger there to restore Dharma, the righteousness in any society when it gets off balance.
Thanks for sharing this piece Mr. Zafar, as a Muslim and a Pluralist I appreciate this.