Assalammu Alaikum Pristine and everybody else! How are you all…?
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Pristine, this is a very thought provoking post…
Hmmm… so what shall I say?
We have to be a bit careful here. If a person says that something does not make sense, it may not necessarily mean that they are rebelling against it. In my limited experience it is more likely to be the case that they say what they mean i.e. they really don’t understand what you mean.
It’s very easy for us to think that once we know the truth and are preaching it then anybody who says the topic under discussion doesn’t make sense is rejecting the truth nd therefore doesn’t give a hoot. When faced with a reply like that, many Muslims I know can’t understand it and therefore think that the other person is rebellious.
But that is normally not the case. Just because we think we know the truth doesn’t automatically make you a great teacher. If somebody says they do not understand we have to assume that what we have said really doesn’t make sense because we didn’t say it properly. We have no right to be suspicious of another person. Teaching another person is a skill which tends to get better with practise.
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Trying to look for mistakes in other peoples line of thinking is verging on the border of arrogance, looking for mistakes within ourselves is being humble.
No, I’m not saying that you were being arrogant. On the contrary. Your post is interesting because it asks us to do an introspection of ourselves and to learn to be ultimately humble so we can therefore be a Muslim by definition i.e. voluntarily submit one’s will to the will of our One Lord and Cherisher: Allah (s.w.t.).
Another point you mentioned to Zalim was on the issue of the word “Kafir”. I gave a scholar’s response on he use and abuse of this word in a seperate thread called “The meaning of the word Kafir…”. You might find that interesting.
The point is that an Atheist is not necessarily a Kafir. To call an Atheist Kafir is wrong anyway (see mentioned post). In my opinion, Atheists are to be congratulated for achieving the state that have reached so far.
Normally, when I meet an atheist, the first thing I like to do is to congratulate him and say, " My special congratulations to you", because most of the people who believe in God are doing blind belief - he is a Christian, because his father is a Christian; he is a Hindu, because his father is a Hindu; the majority of the people in the world are blindly following the religion of their fathers. An atheist, on the other hand, even though he may belong to a religious family, uses his intellect to deny the existence of God; what ever concept or qualities of God he may have learnt in his religion may not seem to be logical to him.
My Muslim brothers may question me, “Adil, why are you congratulating an atheist?” The reason that I am congratulating an atheist is because he agrees with the first part of the Shahada i.e. the Islamic Creed, ‘La ilaaha’ - meaning ‘there is no God’. So half my job is already done; now the only part left is ‘il lallah’ i.e. ‘but Allah’ which I shall do Insh’Allah. With others (who are not atheists) I have to first remove from their minds the wrong concept of God they may have and then put the correct concept of one true God.
Does that make sense to you?
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They shoot partypoopers, don’t they?
