Comparative Religion

Society Religion & Philosophy
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It is very important in this day and age of Islamaphobia that all Muslims have a firm knowledge of Islam and also of other religions.

Long gone are the days when it was enough for us to know the 5 pillars and take our faith for granted, now our Muslim identity is under attack from all sides (thanks to the terrorist bstrds who have created anti-Muslim sentiment everywhere and made our lives hell).

Anti-Islamic people are deliberately misintrepreting Islamic verses to malign Islam in newspapers and on tv channels, we Muslims need to know the correct context and intrepretations of those verses to be able to answer anti-Islamic allegations.

We also need to learn about other religions so that when members of other religions point fingers at Islam by misquoting and misintrepreting its verses we can tell them to take a look at their own backyard…

…Sikhs in the UK are propogating Islamaphobia (e.g. Rajinder Singh) whilst Jews in the USA are distributing anti-Islamic propoganda DVD’s in newspapers (e.g. obsession) but they conveniently ignore all the verses in their own scriptures (Talmud/Torah and Granth) that can and have been misintrepreted and misapplied…

I was reading Guru Granth Sahib the other day and there’s verses in their which can be misintrepreted to advocate Sikh colonism (and have been by the likes of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who turned our Mosques into donkey stables and narcotic stores), there are also verses in the Granth which can be misintrepreted and misquoted to encourage ridicule and intolerance of Hinduism and Islam.

Jews are quick to point fingers at Muslims for being anti-semites yet they conveniently ignore the verses in the Torah and Talmud which can be misintrepreted to encourage hatred and comtempt of Goyim (Gentiles) especially those that don’t abide by the Noahide laws…

Don’t even get me started on how Hindu scriptures have been misintrepreted..

It seems quite acceptable to hate on the Abarahamic faiths (especially Islam) yet the Dharmic religions also have the potential to be misintrepreted.

I’m not advocating hatred towards members of other religions, respect all people, don’t even be rude to those who hate you but prepare yourself to be able to debate with them with wisdom and knowledge and know what you’re talking about…

My point is not hate on other religions but rather to point out that every religion has the potential to misintrepreted.. Muslims don’t have monopoly over the nutcases and their intrepreations..

I find Islam is singled out for all the hatred by members of all religions today and it really hurts yet these same people conveniently ignore passages in their own scriptures which can and have been misapplied in a bad way.
Dr Zakir Naik is a great man, so is Ahmed Deedat… You don’t have to agree with them on all theological issues but you can take the good from them and utilise their knowledge.

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Re: Comparative Religion

I don't have time for reading Guru Granth and vedas etc, picking up all the ambiguous stuff and throwing it on sikhs and hindus' faces.

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Re: Comparative Religion

Dr.Zakir Naik is the man for the job and he is doing it quite well actually.

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[quote]
I don't have time for reading Guru Granth and vedas etc, picking up all the ambiguous stuff and throwing it on sikhs and hindus' faces.
[/quote]

You are right but we have to give these guys a taste of their own medicine.

I hate their hypocrisy, they accuse Islam of all the things which are in their own scriptures and practiced by their own people..

A local church leader had a friendly religious debate with me at the bus stop the other day and I answered everything he accused Islam of and told him the correct intrepretation/context whilst telling him what the Bible (old and new testaments) had to say about the same issues and in the end he admitted that Islamic scripture was a lot more fair and politically correct...

...Had I been dumbstruck it would have encouraged him further but now at least some of the misconceptions about Islam he had became cleared and some of his misgivings removed, plus he'll think twice before trying to convert another Muslim.

If we can't do comparative religion them at the very least we should know our own religion and be able to answer the most common misconceptions.

Like I said at one time there was no need to carry our religion everywhere, we could take it for granted but now we have to because people ask questions, make remarks etc. sometimes out of curiosity, other times out of ignorance and we need to be able to answer them.

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Re: Comparative Religion

^^
which medium will you choose to spread the word?

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Re: Comparative Religion

[quote]
Dr.Zakir Naik is the man for the job and he is doing it quite well actually.
[/quote]

Dr. Zakir Naik may Allah preserve him and bless him is a gem.

To those of you who are against Dr. Zakir Naik: You don't have to agree with him on every single theological issue but you can utilise his speeches and take the good from them regardless of your sect...

I myself listen to Tahir Ul-Qadri, Zakir Naik, Harun Yahya, Bilal Philips etc. I don't neccesarily follow their sects (I don't adhere to any particular sect) or agree with them on everything but I take the good stuff (which is inline with Quran/Sunnah) and reject the rest...

I even make use of Christian speeches against Athiesm etc. I drain off the useless stuff and utilise the stuff which I'll need in my own arguments...

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Re: Comparative Religion

I am a big fan of Zakir Naik , hate it when people say against him

Nosherwan what do you think of Harun yahya? I like his work too.

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Re: Comparative Religion

:hmmm:

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Exactly. :)

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Re: Comparative Religion

Nosherwan - why do you assume muslims are undr attack or that their identity is under attack? can't you understand that the world opinion is against the terrorism that is committed in the name of islam rather than the muslim people per se?

let me tell you what I feel as an outsider looking in. Everytime there is a terror attack, there are muslims involved in it and all other muslims say the terrorists are not following islam. Ok I agree.

But then you turn around and look and you see so many reports of so many mosques with radicalized imams preaching radical and violent ideas. Can't the community that is sustaining those mosques stop that?

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There are two aspects of it. i.e.,

1) Projecting the true ideals of Islam
2) Setting an example so that those ideals are not limited to books and legends.

1).. If someone attacks or pose questions against teachings of Islam and/or prophet (pbuh) of Islam then we as muslims should be able to answer them and show them the true picture of Islam. and showing the imperfections of their religions could be part of the answer.

2)..As ipodberry has said, we should not limit our selves to verbal debates but our morals, our values should reflect those ideals since actions are louder than words.

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What you sow, so shall you reap. Please dont get hurt or surprised, when some hindu or sikh, jew, christian throws Quran-e-majid on your face, lol, God save the world from people like you.

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You definitely can't read English. I was actually defending other Scriptures. Please don't try to comment if you don't understand it fully.

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Re: Comparative Religion

hareem01 - I think terms like "throwing at hindu's faces" might have buried what you really meant too deep. Why such harsh terms.

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[quote="hareem01, post:36, topic:174159"]

You definitely can't read English. I was actually defending other Scriptures. Please don't try to comment if you don't understand it fully./QUOTE

I'm sorry for what I have said, I did misread your comments.

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The threadstarter suggested that we should pick up the unclear verses from Hundu or Christian Scriptures and show it to them that they have faults in their books (I wanted to say if we do that then it’d seem like we are throwing it at their faces which is wrong, best way is to talk about things which are common in us)

Seriously, people learn to start English or stop making the assumptions, just because I used the term “throwing at someone’s face” doesn’t mean I’m insulting them, you have to read the context too.

Thank you. :k:

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Re: Comparative Religion

^^ Thank you for accepting my apology. Comparative study of different religions should be done, provided one has good understanding of his/her own religion.

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Re: Comparative Religion

:salam: yaha kiya ho raha hay :5:

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I am not against condemnation of terrorism.

I'm only against the unjust vilification of the entire Islamic faith and entire Muslim community.

Mainstream Islam and the vast majority of Muslims condemn terrorism, they do not preach it. Suicide and murder are both Haraam (forbidden) in Islam and traditional Islamic law has very strict laws governing war which forbid targetting non-combatant civillians, women, children, elderly, plants, animals, churches, synagogues, monastries etc.

...Some level of political incorrectness is innate with any religion (e.g. the only way to salvation is Christ, there is no deity except Allah/Eloh, only those who believe/follow in the Torah/Noahide-Laws will have a place in Olam-Ha-Ba etc.) but that doesn't mean our religions stop us from having cordial relations and living in harmony with each other.

Hate websites, newspapers, TV channels are all propogating the myth that most Muslims are terrorists and Islam is an inherently evil religion (it's not always said so blatantly but that's the message that is intended)...

Blatant genralisations, untruths, half-truths and ignorance is being propogated against the entire Muslim community and most people who read it would lap up all the hogwash without being objective and then that translates into the way people percieve us and treat us in real life, and the cycle of hatred carries on, the rift between communities widens further and the problem of terrorism is aggravated...

We do have our bad-apples but they are a tiny minoirty, they do not represent mainstream Islam or the vast majoirty of Muslims or their beliefs...

...The reasons for radicalisation, extremism and terrorism are not strictly religious they are political and social, not that that justifies it but if we are sincere about defeating terrorism we can't just keep brushing the real causes under the carpet and only looking at what we want to see..

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I didn’t suggest we should belittle their religions…

…Rather we should point out that every religion has the potential to be misintrepreted and Islam being singled out as the whip-boy is unfair.

Today Muslims are in the limelight but Muslims are/were not the only terrorists..

The Hindus have the Shiv-Sena, Bajrang-Dal, Vishwa-Hindu-Parsad etc.

The Jews have their Gush Emunim, Jewish Defense League, Lehi, Kahanists and extreme-Zionists with a false politically-correct facade.

The Sikhs had their extremists who targetted and killed Hindu civillians in their freedom struggle for Khalistan, the freedom of Khalistan is a noble thing but they went the wrong way about it just like Muslim terrorists today…

The Christians have had their crusaders, inquisitions, IRA…

Every religion/nation has it’s terrorists but that doesn’t mean the religion itself is responsible… The causes are always poltical and with the Muslims today it is the occupation/invasion of Muslim countries, not that that justifies it but that is the reason..