As Salamu ’Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh
Bismillah hir–Rahman nir–Raheem
In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
There is a fine line between respect and sharing a belief. You can respect a certain belief, but not share this belief at all. In this diverse world we are living in, it is quite necessary to respect all beliefs out there, without strictly having to accept the religion or philosophical point of view.
A year ago I was a Catholic and I currently live in a community where everyone is mainly Catholic. Catholics, like any other Christian branch believe in a few points that blind them from the truth of Islam. This creates a shield between them and the religion.
Where I’m from you are simply a Catholic and that’s it. If you dare venture out of the religion you are automatically tagged as a betrayer and mocked upon. I saw this with some family members that have left the roman Catholic church and decided to follow other Christian churches. They were laughed at and even called fanatics.
When you are raised into a community where everyone follows their father’s religion without questioning it’s rather difficult for people not to judge you if you convert to another branch of Christianity, like my brother did. It’s even worse when you revert to Islam.
In the Qur’an it tells us:
And when it is said to them, “Follow what Allah has revealed,” they say, “Rather, we will follow that which we found our fathers doing.” Even though their fathers understood nothing, nor were they guided? (2: 170)
Allah (subhana wa’ tala) mentions those that follow their generation’s religion and ignore the truth.
I believe this happens in every country you’re in; people will follow a religion and never question why. Even in Muslim countries there are those that follow the religion without truly believing and being a devote Muslim.
Having this cleared out, you can now see why Catholics in my country don’t like others from different religions. They are intimidated by them, felt betrayed on if they revert and as a shield they will mock these people in order to get them to give up on their new religion.
It is mentioned in the Qur’an:
And when you call to prayer they make it a mockery and a joke; this is because they are a people who do not understand. (5: 58)
Allah (swt) has mentioned these people and how they react out of their own ignorance. In fact, most of the time when people insult you because you are Muslim it’s usually out of their own ignorance.
Allah (swt) mentions in sura Al-Kahf the consequence of these people:
Thus it is that their recompense is hell, because they disbelieved and held My communications and My apostles in mockery. (18:106)
Those who disbelieve, this is their outcome. So when someone laughs at you for being Muslim or says something insulting, warn them about the consequence of their actions. But, if they persist then I advice to let them be and to simply ignore their comments. This is because Allah (swt) also mentions those that will just not understand the message of Islam. It says in the Qur’an:
Indeed, those who disbelieve – it is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them – they will not believe. (2:6)
There are some points I’d like to comment about that would make everyone out there – Christian or Muslim – understand why Christians don’t really get the message of Islam. These are barriers that Christians must overcome if they truly believe in the Oneness of God.
The first point of interest is that Christians believe in a trinity. They are raised up to believe that God is not one – all Supreme, all Knowing – but in fact that He is composed of three “sections” that form Him as one.
In fact, when you enter a church, after praying or before any act throughout the day you are encouraged to put that sign of the “trinity” on your body; in other words you “bless” yourself with 1. the Father, 2. the Son, and 3. the Holy Spirit. That is, you touch your forehead when saying the Father, then your chest when saying the Son and finally both shoulders while repeating the Holy Spirit thus creating a cross on yourself.
You can see this represented in the image below, where Jesus (peace be upon him) and God are shown as equals, partners in the dominion of the Earth underneath their feet and with the Holy Spirit being represented by the dove almost “enlightening” them to control the universe.
This trinity is truly the endpoint of a Christians’ acceptance of the unity of God and believing that God is One (tawheed). Although Christians state that they believe in one God only, they are actually denying this since they have the belief in the trinity and associating another with Allah (swt).
This falsehood of worshiping or believing in others besides Allah (swt) is a form of shirk. According to The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, shirk means partnership, sharing or associating (p. 468) others with Allah.
Muslims believe that God is One; there is no one or nothing like Him. He (swt) has no partners in His dominion and He is infinite and nothing like we can ever imagine Him to be. The study of this is called tawheed, which means maintaining the unity of Allah (swt). If you do not believe in this – that God is One – then you are not a Muslim.
There are three basic forms that tawheed breaks up into in order to comprehend the unity of Allah (swt) better, and later on I will mention how Christians commit shirk in all of these three forms.
The trinity is actually not true. This ideology was a man made factor that later on throughout the years became a basic principle in Christianity. This so-called trinity was actually obtained by Greek philosophers (Plato’s theories) and Jewish Gnosticism; none of it is pure Christianity.
To make this point even clearer, there is proof in the Bible that the trinity cannot and does not actually exist. Below are some phrases obtained from the Bible:
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.(Exo 20:3)
Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isa 45:22)
As you can see, clearly the true Christian belief is that God is one. So why then, do Christians ignore these statements and the Bible and continue to have a crucified Jesus statue in front of every church?
The reason behind this is that Christians also believe in that Jesus (peace be upon him) was God incarnate on this Earth. Christians believe that Allah (swt) came down on Earth in the form of a man, as well as Jews, Persians and Hindus believe in that God has taken Himself into some human or animal form here on Earth. This happens when you lose the transcendency of Allah and the importance of his highness and start to believe that Allah (swt) is everywhere, when He is in fact above and beyond his creation.
Now if you look at this statement slowly and detailed enough, you can realize how silly and absurd this actually is. Stating that Allah (swt) is everywhere would mean that you also believe that Allah (swt) is in excrement or in dirty and filthy places, which obviously He’s not. If you as a Christian respect, cherish and fear your Lord, then explain to me how on Earth you will ever learn to fear a God that made himself into a man, or is in these filthy places?
I’d love to just jump right into the fact that this is a clear sign of shirk in tawheed al-Asmaa’ was-Sifaat: the belief that Allah (swt) is One without similitude in his Names and Attributes. You cannot give Allah the attributes of his creation! And what was Jesus(peace be upon him)? He was a man: a finite, living, breathing man. A creation from the creator! If you say that Jesus was Allah (swt), then you are also accepting that Allah (swt) is finite, that He had a beginning and that He had an end.
You are assimilating the creator Allah (swt) to a creation of his. In other words, “God” for Christians was born a defenseless infant, to then be slaughtered and beat and hung like an animal onto a cross and died under the hands of his creation: humans.
May Allah (swt) forgive you if you believe this. When you take your Shahada you state Lā ‘ilāha ‘illā-llāhu: There is NO God but Allah.
Even before becoming a Muslim I found nonsense in this way of thinking. Why would Allah (swt), if hypothetically speaking He did have an only son (which is incorrect, since it’s mentioned in the Qur’an that He begetteth not, nor is He begotten 112:3), would want to kill his son as a way to save you from your sins? It’s downright masochistic and violent, attributes that we as Muslims do not associate with Allah (swt).
Now besides this point in Tawheed al-Asmaa’ was-Sifaat, there is also the affirmation that we cannot give Allah’s attributes to his creation; in other words Christians – whom elevate Jesus to the status of Allah (swt) – are committing shirk. Also shown in the Bible is this clear proof:
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me. (Isa 46:9)
If this is in the Bible, then I really don’t know why Christians continue believing this so-called trinity.
But let me just leave you with a few more affirmations that will let us see just how Christians have been brainwashed into believing all these falsehoods.
What hurts me the most is that my mother once told me out of her anger to me that I was being brainwashed by the Qur’an. Of course she has no idea of what she was stating right there, but I knew that her affirmation was just out of her anger as she has never read the Qur’an. It’s hard to believe that one’s own mother can be against this beauty that is Islam and seeing how close I’ve come to Allah over these past months I continue to fight for the truth that is Islam.
A month ago I took my shahada alhamdulillah. Despite the fact that it’s been only a month, I’ve felt Muslim longer than that. I had the belief of Islam in me more than I had realized it.
As a Catholic, I had this thinking that every other Christian has: God is a one-time a week thing. Christians go to church on Sundays and they never really go after that. In fact, most Christians don’t even go every Sunday, whether it’s for the reason that they put other priorities over God or that they just don’t feel like sitting for an hour long listening to some boring priest comment on politics and how wrong you are and how much sin you are committing in your life.
Even when you go, you would never go without getting ready to leave for church. I remember I would spend more time on my hair and what I was going to wear, than thinking to myself that I was going for the purpose of God. And when you arrived, most of the time it was rather uncomfortable as you were sitting near both men and women, couples and screaming children and friends that would look at you to see what you had decided to put on that certain Sunday.
Not to mention the women that would go in tight, short dresses with big pumps and the poofy hair that made the men in the church think about anything other than what the priest was talking about. Most of the times the priest would have his own opinions about certain topics and not really affirm it with what the Bible had to say about it. Let me remind you that these are Catholics that form the trinity on themselves; I really don’t think they care what the Bible has to say, as they have already created their own form of thinking and have set their own obligations to fit into their busy lives in which there is no room for Allah (swt).
Despite the fact that the Bible says very clearly: don’t worship others besides me (God), Christians ignore this and worship Jesus as God.
Despite the fact that the Bible says: women, cover your heads for if you don’t then you should shave your hair off, Christians ignore this and go into their churches dressing like they were going into a nightclub.
Despite the fact that the Bible says: do not have a pope! Christians (Catholics to be more specific) ignore this and have a pope that “controls” the Catholic church and acts as God on Earth.
I could go on and on, but I know now that the Bible is corrupt, as well as that every translation differs and that there is no original text to support the translation. But I didn’t find out about these things until after I started looking into Islam. As a Catholic, you’re not really supposed to question anything and if you mention a topic that questions the religion, then everyone in the room would most likely cut your tongue off.
Here in Costa Rica religion is somewhat “important”. I don’t truly believe it’s as important as I once thought it was, since now I see that it’s more of a routine than something that people have well put into their hearts.
As a Muslim you must pray 5 obligatory prayers, not counting the amount of du’aas you make and the voluntary prayers. Now if a Christian comes up to me and tells me that Muslims don’t have this commitment to God as they do, I would definitely laugh in their face. Muslims remember Allah (swt) every single day and pray directly towards our Lord without any intermediates like Christians need.
If you are a devote Muslim, your prayers come first. Then the rest of the world can come after.
Christians don’t believe this. Christians believe: first the world, then myself, then my friends, then my family, and if I have some time after that I might be able to squeeze God into the final number on my list. In fact, most Christians only pray to God when they need Him. Like to win the lottery, to pass an exam, to get a higher salary. And when it’s not for something they need, then it’s for something they don’t have. Like why their family member has a sickness or illness, or why they got fired from their job or why they don’t have all the things the neighbors have.
Sure Christians will say, hey we believe in God and think about him every day. But when will you see someone praying in the middle of the day at work or during university? When have I seen a women cover herself using hijab after realizing that the Bible says women should cover? When will you see people voting off the pope and changing their religion according to the Bible? I would be astonished if someone ever did here in Costa Rica.
I think most of the good things that come from Christians/Catholics is from the education and the upbringing they got in their homes, not from their religion. My parents raised me well Subhanallah, but never really based on the Bible or God’s word, but instead on their own opinions towards things.
I started reading this book that I absolutely recommend to everyone. It’s called The Bible, the Quran and Science by Dr. Maurice Bucaille. It helped me realize how truly corrupt the Bible is and how unbelievably true the Qur’an is. This is the link to the book (it’s rather big so do take time to read it for the long run) so that you can read it as well: The Bible, the Quran and Science I highly recommend it, for all of us to stop being of the ignorant.
He supports his research with quotes from the Bible, that are contradicted in other segments of the same transliteration. Also, he mentions how it was written by humans and how they all differ in their point of views towards God and things that happened that are just plain absurd. He mentions people that have said how the Bible is a great history book, but that you can’t really take it as valid word for word. Finally, he starts his investigation on the Qur’an and all it’s proof.
I truly recommend it if you’re a fan of good research books and it’s a book that I would personally buy inshallah in the future and truly sit down to study.
Christians, alongside with committing shirk in al-Asmaa’ was Sifaat also commit shirk in the other two forms of tawheed. This stops them from believing that God is one.
In tawheed ar-Roboobeeyah (the belief that Allah is One without partner in His dominion) Christians state that Jesus was either the son of God (shirk in the sense that God said in the Qur’an: He begetteth not, nor is He begotten 112:3 as I mentioned earlier) or that Jesus was God on Earth. Therefore, they assimilate Jesus (pbuh) as an equal to Allah (swt).
And finally, Christians commit shirk in tawheed al’ Eebaadah, which means Allah (swt) is the only one worthy of worship. Christians instead call others in their prayers instead of directing their prayers to Allah (swt) only. They call to their saints, their prophet (pbuh) and even the mother of their prophet.
I’ve witnessed how they do this during their praying and even as a Catholic I believed this to be wrong. I remember sitting in church and asking my mother, to whom should I pray to, to Jesus or to God? Even her answer was more Muslim than Christian.
“Pray to God, ” she would say to me, and as a child I found this to be the most logical way of praying.
To conclude things, I want to summarize how Christians have this false belief that automatically makes them not understand Muslims. If they were to understand how Allah (swt) is not everywhere, but in fact above his creation, then they would stop assimilating our Creator with idols and worship his creation.
Just like the Hindus that worship their god Shiva as they believe this God was God incarnate on the earth, Christians worship Jesus the prophet (pbuh) since they believe him to have been God incarnate. If they both were God incarnate on earth, then I ask you Christians, they really don’t have much differences now do they?
In the Qur’an Allah (swt) mentions a numerous amount of times Him being above us, and not “everywhere” as Christians have come to believe. As it is said in the Qur’an:
Those, who fear their Lord who is above them. (16:50)
Insha’Allah this will help you realize just how true the message of Islam is. In Islam, you worship God and God alone. You don’t worship idols or human-like “saints” or prophets to get closer to God. You don’t need a specific “saint” for your prayers to be heard. Allah (swt) will always hear you if you worship and pray to Him only, for He is al-Mujîb: the only One capable of answering your prayers. You have a direct relationship with Allah (swt) that you wouldn’t have in any other religion. And as Allah says in the Qur’an:
“And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the life to come he shall be among the losers.” (3:85)
Islam is the only path Allah will accept. There is a lot of other proof about this, but I merely have given my own opinion as to why Christians don’t accept Islam. Unfortunately, they are in error and may Allah (swt) guide those whom He wishes.
I hope Allah (swt) guides you on the straight path that is Islam. Allah (swt) wants you to be a part of Heaven, which is why He sent down the Qur’an as a revelation to mankind to guide them towards Paradise.
Thanks for reading and please leave comments if you desire. God bless you.
Chao.
References:
(s.f.). Recuperado el 25 de Febrero de 2013, de Intolerance in the Quran: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/int/long.html
Islam Web. (13 de Noviembre de 2010). Recuperado el 27 de Febrero de 2013, de The Chosen Religion: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?id=119792&page=articles
Holy Qur’an. (s.f.). Recuperado el 25 de Febrero de 2013, de http://quran.com/2/170
Rahman, M. A. (s.f.). Parents related verses in the Quran. Recuperado el 27 de Febrero de 2013, de Progressive Muslim: http://www.progressive-muslim.org/parents-and-quran.htm
Search Truth. (s.f.). Recuperado el 25 de Febrero de 2013, de http://www.searchtruth.com/search.php?keyword=mockery&translator=3&search=1
The Tica Muslimah 