Originally posted by Johnv:
The only problem that I see is that the verses of the Quran that you have quoted to demonstrate that Islam is a peaceful religion are in direct conflict and contradict the verses that DHK posted earlier...How can these contradictions be reconciled? (My original question)
Johnv's answer:
That's a good question. I think former Isreili Prime Minister Shimon Peres said it best recently when he said, and I paraphrase, the verses promoting a stance of violence are taken extracontextually by a group of fanatics that do not repreent Muslims as a whole.
Hello Johnv,
It is interesting that, from the quote above, Shimon Peres appears to have accepted the idea that Islam is really a religion of peace and that only some fanatical fringe element is responsible for the violence caused by Islamic terrorists around the world. However, I'm not real interested in Shimon Peres' opinion on the subject. I want to talk specifically about what the Quran actually says. You see, the quote from Shimon Peres
does not reconcile the contradictory verses of the Quran. It simply overlooks them.
As I understand it, The Quran is the highest authority in Islam. Therefore, it is the final word regarding issues of faith and practice in Islam. Next in authority come the
sunna and the
hadiths—for any issues that are not specifically addressed or defined by the Quran, the prophet’s life and informal sayings are the ultimate authority. In other words, when in doubt do as Muhammad did. Likewise, the
hadiths include various sayings that are attributed to Muhammad. These sayings are used to clarify the revelation of the Quran; therefore, their authority comes close to the Quran itself. Theoretically, the Quran, the
sunna, and the
hadiths should be sufficient for all occasions. All one has to do is correctly apply the information. However, in real world that means that the Quran must be interpreted correctly in order to obtain the correct application. Hence, the concept of
shari’a, or “Islamic law,” developed. These (meaning all of the above) are the authoritative documents of Islam. These are the documents that will help us to see exactly what Islam teaches regarding violence and peace. Now let’s use these sources to unravel the misinformation and resulting confusion surrounding Islam.
Also I would like for you to define the term "fellow believer" that you have applied to Jews, Christians, and Muslims equally. The best way to do that is to define what it is that these "fellow believers" are supposed to believe that is in common. I assume by using the term you are indicating that each religious group believes in God. (My original question)
Johnv's answer:
Fellow believers are those that believe in the One Almighty God that Abraham believed in. Granted, however, that belief in Jesus Christ is not equivalent to simply believing in the God of Abraham.
Now, we come to it. Does Islam teach belief in the God of Abraham as He (God) is defined by the Old Testament? Let’s see… “In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep, And the
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2, KJV). Here we have what appears to be, at the very least, God in two persons. We see
God and the
Spirit of God active in the creation of the cosmos. Then in Genesis 18 Abraham is visited by three men whom he addresses as “My Lord,” and they speak to Abraham with one voice in verse 5 (Genesis 18:1-15). This appears to be God in three persons. Finally, looking back upon the Genesis account through the further revelation of the New Testament we understand that in actuality all three persons of the Triune God were present and active in the creation event (see John 1:1-5). So by these and other texts we see that God is one God in three persons. Therefore, the God of Christianity is understood by Trinitarian Monotheism. Plus, He is a personal God who reveals and discloses Himself to mankind (this is an important distinction between the God of Abraham and the Allah of Mohammad).
According to Islam, Allah is one. Islam teaches a strict form of radical monotheism. There is no possibility of “God the Holy Spirit” and certainly not a “God the Son” (I’ll come back to this point later). Likewise, the Allah of Mohammad is not a personal god and does not disclose himself to mankind. This is why the angel Gabriel had to be the one to convey the message of the Quran to Mohammad. Allah could not be soiled by direct communication with a mere man.
Therefore, is it really accurate to say that Islam teaches belief in the God of Abraham, the God of both the Old Testament and of the New Testament? I think not. The very definitions of the Biblical God of Abraham and the Quranic Allah of Mohammad prevent the validity of such a claim.
The questions here is how does Islam and the Quran define Allah (God)? According to the teachings of Islam what is God like? What makes up His nature, His essential being?(My original question)
Johnv's answer:
Muslims believe that there is one God and only one God (Allah is the Arabic word for God and is used by Christian, Muslim, and Jewish speakers of Arabic to refer to Him).
You are sort of correct in this statement. Allah is not a proper noun in Arabic, just as God is not a proper noun in English. Allah is simply a word for God, and if we were to speak in Arabic about the God of the Bible, Allah would be the word that we would use. Therefore, in terms of a purely historical prospective we could say that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. However, from a theological prospective, there may well be points of similarity, but in the end when we consider the specific details we cannot make that claim.
The Quranic conception of Allah is strictly unitarian, because God is seen as one and one only (as you have pointed out). Mohammad considered the very notion of a “fatherhood” of Allah, which he associated with a sexual procreation of a son, as highly blasphemous. This is because of the highly sensualist version of Allah and his three daughters that were part of the pre-Islamic Maccan religion (I can provide more detail on the pre-Islamic religion of Mecca if you like). Since this idea conveyed notions of sexual activity on the part of Allah Mohammad had no use for the idea of Christ as the Son of God or for the Trinity. Clearly, Mohammad did not understand the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. The Quran indicates that Mohammad thought that the Christian Trinity consisted of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and Mary the Mother (5:116). Finally, in all forms of theism (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) there are two characteristics of God. One is that He is transcendent (greater than the world, and not limited by it) and immanent (active within the world). However, in Islam a far greater emphasis is placed upon Allah’s transcendence. With that all said suffice it to say that there are sharp distinctions between the Biblical God of Abraham and the Quranic Allah of Mohammad that cannot be overlooked or reconciled.
What is the God of the Bible if not the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? And what is the Muslim God (Allah) if not the revealer of the Quran? However, these two descriptions are mutually exclusive.
[ January 29, 2003, 01:43 AM: Message edited by: BibleboyII ]
