“All religions teach people the ways of real obedience to Allah Almighty.”
Beautiful no?
I found this on a site, will relocate it and post the URL.
I think thats nice. 
Mo, don't you think this statement may be considered blasphemous as it equates Islam with all the invalid religions? If obedience to Allah means facing Mecca 5 times a day, women covering themselves up, what to eat - what not, etc., these others can't really be learning "the ways of real obedience to Allah Almighty" if they are not following all these rules and regulations as required by Islam.
seminole, aside from the do's and donts that pretty much every faith has, is the essence of religion not the same? each religion at the same time tells its followers that it is the only way. atleast for abrahamic religions.
Not just Abrahamic religions... I had a look at an online Buddhist page and you'd be surprised how similar the stuff was in essence.
Exactly X-treme: What that says..is that ther eis nothing novel about one religion or another. Accept the message..cuz it is essentially the same regardless which way you are facing and what you are eating.
I agree the essence of all religions (worth their salt) teach the principles of faith, charity, compassion, non-violence, forgiveness, tolerance, etc. I personally believe that there are many paths to God, not just one. It can be done through Jesus, Mohammed or both.
But I do think Islam is unique (even compared to the other monotheistic religions) in its "real obedience to Allah" because of all the day to day requirements most followers believe necessary to please Allah. Most members of the other religions have insituted a modern day version of their ancient scriptures that find it unnecessary to find divine words to determine which hairs are permitted to pluck, how to greet a believer vs. a non-believer, which hand to eat with, etc.
If all these things are necessary to please God, then the followers of other religions are not learning "the ways of real obedience to Allah". If they aren't necessary, then many Muslims spend a good portion of their life jumping through inconvenient and unnecessary hoops.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Seminole: *
But I do think Islam is unique (even compared to the other monotheistic religions) in its "real obedience to Allah" because of all the day to day requirements most followers believe necessary to please Allah. Most members of the other religions have insituted a modern day version of their ancient scriptures that find it unnecessary to find divine words to determine which hairs are permitted to pluck, how to greet a believer vs. a non-believer, which hand to eat with, etc..
[/QUOTE]
so the religion itself is not unique, but how the followers have adapted it may be. The members have instituted a modern day version, does not mean that the religion itself did not have very strict dietary laws for example, or prayer rituals. If you look closely, a lot of that has been done among muslims too, maybe it a process that takes time that religion goes through, and others went thru their evolving phases and had the type of dialogies and issues that islam and muslims are struggling with right now.
I believe that it was the secular or materialist movement growing out of the Renaissance that started the Reformation in Christianity. It took over 1500 years for Christianity to get to the stage that allowed their religion to reflect modern day culture. If Islam follows that same time table, they are currently going through the same process. I'm sure Muslim purists (fundamentalists, conservatives, whatever) would strongly disagree and say that Islam is the word of God and cannot be interpreted differently than it was written.
submitting to the will of a superior being has to be demonstrated.. u can't just agree to the concept and then go willy nilly acting on your desires or whims... there has to be a definite code of approved conduct.
that said, it should lie squarely with the divine authority.. no 'scholar' or 'devout follower' should be able to add/subtract/modify it.
When u study religions based purely on the message, and not how they are being followed, u do find them very similar indeed... and that also gives you a good yardstick by which to measure the 'practices'.. if anything doesn't 'fit'.. it probably was added much later by 'devout followers'.
PA: The supposition there is that "submission" is a monotheistic and more so pre-christian reformation trait. Eastern religions pay as much if not more heed to the concept of guidance than to submission, per se.
All faiths are at there heart good, obviously I feel that Islam is the way to Allah, but it is HE who is the judge.
Re: The perfect summerization of Islam in 1 line.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mo_best: *
"All religions teach people the ways of real obedience to Allah Almighty."
Beautiful no?
I found this on a site, will relocate it and post the URL.
I think thats nice. :)
[/QUOTE]
hm! and why is such 'obedience' a good thing?
Well no one is asking you to follow it yaar.
Take a chill pill.
don't be angry mo! I merely asked a question and you try to bite my head of for that. please don't be angry.
seriously, why do you think such obedience is a good thing?
The quote is slightly problematic...
Here is the perfect summation of Islam in one short sentence by Hazrat Mufakkar e Islam Pir Sayyid Abdul Qadir Shah Jilani:
** "Islam ishq e Mustafa ka doosra naam hai" **
Transl:
** Islam is another name for love of the Prophet **
:)
[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Asif: *
* Islam is another name for love of the Prophet **
[/QUOTE]
Which one? Doesn't Islam teach not to distinguish between the prophets?
Bogus !!! 
The quote is actually from Shiekh Nazim's book "Mercy Oceans". I didnt add that in post 1 as then ppl will just diss the great shiekh and head of the Nashqbandi tariqah.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Asif: *
** Islam is another name for love of the Prophet **
:)
[/QUOTE]
That quote seems perfectly legit me. The whole faith is based on loving of Rasool Allah, our master, and if that love if not there-unconditionally, then the rest of someones Islam is just useless.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mo_best: *
That quote seems perfectly legit me. The whole faith is based on loving of Rasool Allah, our master, and if that love if not there-unconditionally, then the rest of someones Islam is just useless.
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Mo, you seem to be in the minority with your worship of Mohammed. The whole faith of Islam is based on loving a mere mortal? I thought it was submission to Allah.