Of All creations, who, what and whom among its creations are of the equivalent to the Holiness of God?
If there is what we call Holy Books, could there be a Holy Being? If there is what we call the Holy Spirit, could there be a Holy Man? Who is the holy of the holiness? Who really deserve to be the chosen ONE? Of all the prophets send by God of the Abrahamic faith who among the chosen ONE deserve to be term as the Holiness? And to the Father of Mankind, ‘Adam’; Did Adam Sin for disobeying the command of God? Is Adam the Holiness of the Holy for disobeying God's commandment? Or the final or last Messenger of God, Prophet Muhammad deserve to be known as Holy? Or could it be Mother Mary the most Holiness Divine Being as she had given Rise to Jesus?
Adam (عليه السلام) when he ate from the forbidden tree, When Noah (عليه السلام) invoked Allah for his disbeliever son, When David (عليه السلام) been too quick to judge without listening to what the second disputant had to say, Abraham (عليه السلام) invoked Allah for his pagan father, When Yunus (Jonah) (عليه السلام) left his people in anger when they rejected him, When Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) turned away from a blind man, When Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) refused to consume honey when his wives discouraged him.
Say, [O believers], "We have believed in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him." - Surah Al-Baqarah (2:136)
Those messengers - some of them We caused to exceed others. Among them were those to whom Allah spoke, and He raised some of them in degree. And We gave Jesus, the Son of Mary, clear proofs, and We supported him with the Pure Spirit. If Allah had willed, those [generations] succeeding them would not have fought each other after the clear proofs had come to them. But they differed, and some of them believed and some of them disbelieved. And if Allah had willed, they would not have fought each other, but Allah does what He intends. - Surah Al-Baqarah (2:253)
And your Lord is most knowing of whoever is in the heavens and the earth. And We have made some of the prophets exceed others [in various ways], and to David We gave the book [of Psalms]. - Surah Al-Isra (17:55)
Behold! the angels said: "O Mary! God giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the Hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to God; S. 3:45
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore.” Isaiah 9:6-7
“In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness.” Isaiah 16:5
“Behold, the days are coming, says YHWH, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘YHWH our righteousness.’” Jeremiah 23:5-6
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.’” Luke 1:26-33
“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, ‘Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!’” Luke 2:8-15
Prayer should make us better, right?
Is praying to God a way for us to be awarded the highest level of Heaven? When we pray how does we know if our prayers are accepted by God? Does prayers make us better beings? And of all the prophets and messenger are they all of equal status and honour or do they differ in status? Who among the holy and divine or so call chosen ONE deserves to be seated in the Highest layer of Heaven?
Should we ask such a question? Are prayers a way or a form to decide and choose onto which layers of Heaven a particular Creator shall be rested? And how does a God judge a person?
When we pray, are we concentrating on our prayers or are we being distracted by worldly matters? For at Most times our body is present in prayer but our mind is somewhere else.”
Do we fully focus so as to fully concentrate when doing our prayers towards the Divine Being? Or is our mind still thinking of the worldly matters?
“Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays.”
Prayer is often considered and practised as a time to ask for divine favours but prayer cannot just be reduced to “favours”. If we do that, then we also reduce God to being ‘Santa Claus’ dishing out gifts.
Do we judge others in prayers based on their clothing? And in prayers does one performs the prayer wholeheartedly or does the act constitutes to just an act play?
Holier than Thou Attitude
Skull caps are not important, the quality of our prayers are. But most Muslims are more concerned with placing skull caps on their heads before they conduct their prayers while being totally lost in another world and not at all absorbed in their prayers. In short, they conduct only the physical rituals of their prayers while their state of mind is totally void of prayer.
Muslims seem more concerned with rituals and appearances as if performing these rituals and ‘looking good’ makes one a good Muslim. They would shy away from eating pork, drinking liquor or from indulging in gambling or adultery. And that, many think, is the mark of a good Muslim. However, these ‘pious’ Muslims would be the first to gossip and they somehow do not feel that this is worse than eating pork, drinking liquor or gambling.
Nameemah, which translates to malicious gossip, as well as spying, are considered major sins in Islam. Prophet Muhammad said, “No person who spreads nameemah will enter Paradise.”
Prophet Muhammad also said, “Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the falsest of speech. Do not eavesdrop; do not spy on one another; do not envy one another; do not forsake one another; do not hate one another. Be, O slaves of Allah, brothers.”
How often do we see Muslim men wearing skull caps or Muslim women wearing headscarves backbiting and slandering others? No doubt Islam makes it compulsory for women to wear headscarves. But religious scholars have said there is no evidence that those who do not wear one would go to hell, notwithstanding the fact they have failed to comply with one of God’s commands.
My point here is: a bare headed woman who refrains from gossip and backbiting is a better Muslim than one who wears a headscarf but delights in running down others. And the issue here is priority. Most Muslims put priority on form and appearances while neglecting function; whereas form should always follow function and not the other way around.
Many Muslims, in particular the hard core Muslims, go around with this holier than thou attitude, a smug look on their face, and a chip on their shoulder. They imagine themselves as ‘pure’ Muslims who have achieved the level and status where they can condemn others.
Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone. And not many would be able to lift their hands to throw this stone — ulamaks, muftis, and all form and manner of religious scholars included.
Judge me by all means. Condemn me if you wish, because I deserve condemnation, for I am not a perfect Muslim. I am, in fact, quite a bad Muslim, and I admit this. But let he whose hands are not tainted do the condemnation. If not, please, forever, hold your tongue because you are as much a sinner as I.
To all those hard core Muslims who think so highly of themselves and imagine themselves second to Prophet Muhammad in the purity of their Islam, I have one question for you: are you so sure you are a good Muslim and are not committing sins tantamount to the sin of intercourse with your own mother or father?
Yes, that’s right, the sin tantamount to the sin of intercourse with one’s own mother or father!
If you can confidently tell me you are clear of this sin then judge me by all means. If not, then shut up and go search yourself first before you look for my faults.
And what sin is this I am talking about that tantamount to the sin of intercourse with one’s own mother or father? The sin of riba or usury.
Muslims wrongly think that riba or usury merely means the interest you pay on your car loan, housing loan, or credit cards. Prophet Muhammad, however, said there are seventy different forms and levels of riba. Of course, credit transactions are certainly one of the many forms. But there are many more — and bribes or kickbacks is one of them, something many Malays seem to have no problem indulging in. This type of Malay is worse than those who drink liquor.
Many Malays prefer borrowing from Bank Islam or take Islamic loans from a commercial bank and then imagine themselves free of riba. They take murabaha loans and say that they are free of sin. But they are not.
The banks, of course, try to downplay the word ‘interest’ by calling it ‘murabaha’. To circumvent interest they would ‘purchase’ an item at the market price and ‘resell’ it to the ‘buyer’ at a higher price, which is above market price under a so-called sales and purchase agreement. The truth is: the bank is not selling you anything but lending you money to pay for what you are going to buy. If you plan to pay back in one year, the sales price would be calculated at a certain price (say, purchase price plus 8%) and if you sign up for ten years then it would be a different price (say, purchase price plus 70%); which is definitely much higher than the one-year payback price.
Time, therefore, is the essence for determining the ‘sales’ price. Since time is the essence, then this would be riba. Further to that, the bank is making excessive profit from you just because you are paying over time. You could buy the same item on the market much cheaper. But because you are paying over time you have to pay a ‘penalty’. This is riba.
Say you buy a RM50,000 car. That is today’s market price for the car. But since you are paying for the car over five years, the bank sells it to you for RM70,000. The bank just made RM20,000 from you on a car that is worth RM50,000 today because you are paying back over five years. Whatever fancy name you wish to call it, it is still riba and the lender, borrower, lawyer who drew up the agreement, bank officer handling the transaction, witnesses to the agreement, directors of the bank, investors who have shares in the bank, and everyone down to the office boy who went to the stamp office to get the agreement stamped are equally guilty of riba.
Islamic banks promoting murabaha are taking everyone for a ride and everyone involved have committed a sin tantamount to intercourse with one’s own mother or father — those moral police from the religious department included who have savings in the bank or savings in the Pilgrims Fund (Tabung Haji) that has shares in the bank.
Okay, you say I do not have any loans or debts and have not paid any interest in my life. I also do not have any credit cards and have not taken one Sen in bribes since the day I was born. I do not have savings in the bank or shares in any unit trust that has shares in the bank either. I am a clean Muslim and therefore qualified to act as the moral police.
Are you so sure? I am sure you buy and sell. What do you use for buying and selling? Paper money? Paper money is also riba.
Paper money goes up and down in value. The Ringgit can be worth one thing today and another tomorrow. As long as you earn your salary from the religious department in the form of paper money or Ringgit you stand to gain if it goes up — or you risk losing if the Ringgit were to go down in value. So you stand to gain from an increase in your wealth through no effort of your own other than because you are hoarding your money in a bank, or you risk losing and seeing your wealth reduced if the value goes down; which means you are taking a huge gamble just like you had placed your money on a roulette wheel. That is riba.
Hoarding or keeping your paper money in a bank where the value goes up and down is indulging in riba.
Unfair profit made on a sale just because the buyer is paying over time is riba.
Interest paid is riba. Bribery and corruption is riba. Speculative profit is riba. Options are riba. Mononopolies are riba. And so on and so forth.
The Holy Book (Bible & Koran teaches on ONE Superior Being)
What the Bible and Koran have in common - By Felipe Lopez.
Christianity and Islam are somewhat known to be opposite religions (depending on who you ask). When we watch the news, there are always seem to be some sort of religious conflict brewing. A Christian living in a Muslim community may have a hard time continuing his faith, because of religious discrimination. Muslims also have difficulty preserving their religious cultures when they move into Christian communities.
The main similarity between them (Muslims and Christians) is that they have a holy book wherein they can get all the information about their religion. For Christians, it’s the Bible and Muslims have the Koran (sometimes spelled as Qur’an). The beliefs Bible and Koran hold are quite different; they don’t have the same views in life. While their differences are very much true, they offer some similar teachings and stories. This isn’t known to many, because so many people focus on the disparity rather than the common ground of the two religions.
Both the Bible and the Koran believe in only one Superior Being. Christians believe in God, while Muslims believe in Allah. The God they believe in can do all things if He wants. Both of the religions believe that God sent a messenger. For Christians, God sent Jesus Christ while Allah sent Muhammad to spread the Word of God.
Another big similarity between the two books is the story of Creation. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, details how God created the universe and everything that’s in it. The same goes for the Koran. Allah and God created the world in six days, without being tired. They have similar stories about the creation of man, which is we were molded from clay and the Lord just breathed life into us. Another notable and similar teaching that the Bible and Koran have are the Ten Commandments. The Bible has its version of the Ten Commandments written in order. The Koran has similar verses with the commandments though it wasn’t written in the same order. Nevertheless, both give the same message. Only one god is to be worshipped and it is God/Allah. There should be no idol worship, nor make any images of the one true God. The name of the Lord shouldn’t be used needlessly, nor should we call out to Him in vain. We should consider the Sabbath day holy. Our parents should be respected and obeyed. Killing, stealing, adultery, lying, and envy are not allowed by either religion. The moral codes of both Christians and Muslims are also similar in many ways. First of all, they believe that faith without works is useless. It doesn’t matter if you believe, if you’re not going to abide by the rules given by the holy book. Both of them abhor homosexuality and intoxication, although the person can be forgiven if he repents. The Koran also has its version of seven deadly sins which was taught similarly. Last, but not the least, the two religions have similar practices. Although we all know not everything is the same. Prayer is important in both cases, since it is a way to communicate with God and He listens to our prayers. Charity to others is highly encouraged and doing so will have its own rewards. Muslims celebrate the birth of Muhammad, and Christians rejoice over the birth of Christ.
READ MORE >>> Exodus in Bible and Qur’an
Story Of The Prophet Muhammad, Messenger of God.
Abdullah was born before Prophet Muhammad was born since the father has to be born before the son can be born. In fact, Abdullah died before Muhammad was born and that was why the Prophet was raised by his grandfather, Muttalib, and later, when Muttalib died eight years later, by his uncle, Abu Talib. Also before the time of Muhammad, women could marry more than one husband (and women like Khatijah could propose marriage). As everybody knows, Khadija (radyia Allahu 'anha) had a very successful trade. She heard about Prophet Muhammad's nobel and wonderful characters, so she sent him with a trading caravan to Syria, accompanied by her slave, Maysara.
When the caravan returned, Maysara told her even more about the Prophet and his success in trading. Khadija was then deeply moved and impressed and really wanted to propose to him but she didn't know how to express her thoughts to him. So she sent one of her close friends, Nafisah bint Manbah, to the Prophet (PBUH). Nafisah asked him if she could ask him a personal question. The Prophet didn't object. So she asked him why is he unmarried till now. He told her because he didn't have financial resources. So she asked, will you be willing to marry a beautiful lady, from a noble family and wealth who is inclined to marriage with him. He asked about whom she's referring to. When she told him, he said he would be willing to marry her. So his two uncles, Hamza and Abu Talib went to her uncle, and the formal proposal was made.
According to Islamic history, Muhammad was a 'restless soul' who used to withdraw from society to contemplate all alone in a deserted cave for days on end. In this isolation or 'solitary confinement', Muhammad would ponder in search of the Creator. One day, the Angel Gabriel descended to earth to command Muhammad to read. Muhammad replied that he was unlearned and could not read whereby Gabriel repeated the command to Muhammad who continued protesting that he was not capable of reading. Gabriel finally grabbed Muhammad and shook him with such great force that he was compelled to obey the command lest his very life get shaken out of him. Muhammad was greatly disturbed and in utter shock. He ran back to his wife, Khatijah, and jumped under the blanket while relating to her what he had just experienced. Khatijah, who was older than him and probably quite intelligent considering she already owned a successful business enterprise before she married Muhammad, decided to go see her cousin. Some accounts say she brought Muhammad to meet her cousin. Suffice to say, whether Muhammad did or did not go along, Khatijah did go see her cousin and there appears to be no dispute on this point.
Khatijah's cousin had much earlier converted to Christianity and was an ulama or learned person. When he heard what Khatijah had to relate he said that Muhammad was destined to become a Prophet and he prayed he would still be alive to see this happen. He also predicted that Muhammad would face much trials and tribulations in his God-given mission to spread the word and to bring the Arabs out of the darkness of paganism in the period that Muslims call the era of ignorance or jahil.
Yes, it was a Christian who in a way 'anointed' Muhammad as the Prophet of Islam when Muhammad himself thought he was going mad and told his wife so. But Khatijah's cousin, the learned Christian, convinced Khatijah that Muhammad was not going mad but had been chosen by God as the next Prophet and that she should go home and inform Muhammad of this. Muhammad would probably never have returned to that cave and would instead have asked Khatijah to commit him into a mental asylum if not for her learned Christian cousin.
That, in a nutshell, was the relationship between Muhammad and Christianity in the days when Muhammad had not yet 'seen the light'. And it took a Christian to convince Muhammad that he was not going mad but was in fact a Prophet. And, yes, the Christian cousin of Muhammad's wife was an Arab, as was Muhammad, and the Arab Bible was in Arabic, the language of Islam, and the Arab Christian God was called Allah, as was the God of the pagan Arabs who also had 360 other Gods alongside Allah — which about 21 years later were all 'sacked' in favour of just the one God, Allah, the same God of the Jews and Christians of the Arabian Peninsular of that era.
Now, what does this tell you? Muhammad received his prophet-hood and was ‘converted’ to Islam long after Abdullah, the Servant of Allah, died. But Abdullah was not a Muslim. Abdullah was a Pagan. So, if Muhammad’s ‘Pagan’ father was named the Servant of Allah, that means Allah was a Pagan and not a Muslim God, so to speak.
Story Of the Prophet Moses vs The Pharaoh, (The Self- Proclaimed God)
In academic circles, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are grouped under the Semitic religions or Abrahamic faiths. In short, they all share the same roots although the Christians now have the books of the New Testament and the Muslims the Qur’an and Hadith. Nevertheless, Moses is still very much the Prophet of all three.
In line with the Judaic view, we find out from the Quran that when Prophet Moses (pbuh) was born in Egypt, his life was in great danger as the Pharoah was persecuting the Israelites.
Truly Pharaoh elated himself in the land and broke up its people into sections depressing a group among them: their sons he slew, but he kept alive their females: for he was indeed a maker of mischief. (28:4)
Therefore, Moses’s mother was greatly worried about her son’s fate; then, the Quran specifies that God inspired her to take an unlikely action:-
So We sent this inspiration to the mother of Moses: “Suckle (thy child) but when thou hast fears about him cast him, into the river, but fear not nor grieve: for We shall restore him to thee, and We shall make him one of Our messengers.” (28:7)
Moses’s sister hid and kept watch on the progress of her brother across the river. While the Torah maintains that the Pharoah’s daughter adopted Moses, the Quran differs. In fact, the Pharoah’s wife insisted that they adopt him.
The wife of Pharaoh said: “(Here is) a joy of the eye for me and for thee: slay him not. It may be that he will be of use to us, or we may adopt him as a son.” And they perceived not (what they were doing)! (28:9)
When Moses (pbuh) was hungry, he refused to nurse from any of the foster mothers provided for him. At this point, Moses’s sister posing as a bystander suggested she could bring someone who may be successful in feeding him; unbeknownst to his rescuers, she brought his own mother, a point mentioned in Exodus of the Torah as well. Of course, Moses readily nursed from her and the two were thus rejoined.
Thus did We restore him to his mother that her eye might be comforted, that she might not grieve and that she might know that the promise of Allah is true: but most of them do not understand. (28:13)
According to the Abrahamic belief, God was certainly displeased with the Pharaoh and he ordered Moses to confront the Pharaoh about it. The reason that God was displeased with Pharaoh was because the Pharaoh considered himself God and the Egyptians did not worship the true God, whom the Muslims would call Allah.
God wanted Moses to bring his people out of Egypt so that they could practice the religion of monotheism and not the religion of idols and false Gods. The Pharaoh, however, would not allow this and this was when God punished Egypt with calamities (bala, as the Malays would say).
God brought down many plagues onto the Egyptians.
The Plague of Blood
The Plague of Frogs
The Plague of Gnats
The Plague of Flies
The Plague on Livestock
The Plague of Boils
The Plague of Hail
The Plague of Locusts
The Plague of Darkness
The Plague on the Firstborn
Finally the Pharaoh could not endure God’s punishment no longer and he allowed Moses and his people to leave Egypt but changed his mind later and God punished the Egyptians with drowning in the Red Sea. Unfortunately, Moses did not bring his people far enough to the ‘Promised Land’ or else today the Jews instead of the Muslims would control all the oil in the Middle East (so Moses was not really that smart after all).
The problem is the people that Moses brought out of Egypt decided to revert to their old idol Gods so God punished them by making them wander in the desert for 40 years. Maybe God further punished them by locating the ‘Promised Land’ in a barren desert surrounded by oil-rich countries that are owned by non-Jews.
Hence, in short, the book of Exodus is about terrorism and about how God was behind all these acts of terrorism. Hence also, in short, according to Exodus, God is a terrorist by definition.
And that was how the Nation of Israel was born, through terrorism. And from the Nation of Israel emerged the nations of Jesus Christ and Islam. And it has been terrorism for thousands of years until now.
The only difference is Islam, which was born 600 years after Jesus, still terrorises in the name of religion while the Jews and Christians no longer hide behind religion to terrorise others but use ‘modern values’ such as democracy, freedom, human rights and civil liberties.
Hence this makes Muslims bad terrorists and the non-Muslims good terrorists because non-Muslims do not use religion but use noble values to terrorise others.
Muslims kill because God commands it in certain situations against enemies of God and those who disobey God. Jews and Christians do not because they disobey God and are no longer good Jews or good Christians.
Now, what is a terrorist? According to the definition, a terrorist is someone (an individual or someone belonging to a body of persons) who terrorises others, mainly to force that person or persons into submission.
If that is the definition of a terrorist then God is a terrorist because, according to Exodus, God terrorised the Pharaoh and the Egyptians into submitting to Moses.
Exodus 12.15 says: Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.
Exodus 12.17 says: Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.
Exodus 12.16 says: Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.
Exodus 22.18 says: Do not allow a sorceress to live.
Exodus 22.19 says: Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.
Exodus 22.20 says: Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.
Exodus 22.22-24 says: Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
Exodus 22.28 says: Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.
Those are just some of the laws but in the end it is all about if you do this or you do that you must be punished and in most cases the punishment is death.
In Hinduism, Buddhism, etc., you suffer the law of karma. Hence, if you do bad you suffer bad, and if you do good you enjoy good. Christians and Muslims, however, are terrorised into submission. In fact, some interpret Islam to mean submission. And if you do not submit you will be tortured after you die.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are not really religions of love and peace, as some argue. They are religions of war. It about obeying God or suffer the punishment. It is about defy God and suffer death. It is about you must resist, fight and kill those who will not bow to God and accept the one God and still insist on praying to other Gods.
The God of the Jews, Christians and Muslims is a jealous God who cannot accept other Gods. The God of the Jews, Christians and Muslims is a vengeful God who punishes you for disobedience. The God of the Jews, Christians and Muslims is a God who has human emotions of love, hate and anger. The God of the Jews, Christians and Muslims is a God you must never cross if you do not want to suffer punishment in this world and the next. The God of the Jews, Christians and Muslims is a terrorist who makes you tremble and obey out of fear.
Story of Jesus the Messiah
"He shall speak to people while still in the cradle, and in manhood, and he shall be from the righteous." (Quran 3:46)
"I am indeed a slave of God. He has given me the Book and made me a Prophet, and He has made me blessed wherever I may be. And He has enjoined upon me prayers, and to pay the alms, as long as I live and (He has made me) kind to my mother, and He has not made me insolent, unblessed. And may Peace be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and on the Day I shall be raised to life." (Quran 19:30-33)
"…and We made her (Mary) and her son (Jesus) a sign for the worlds." (Quran 21:91)
Born of a Virgin Birth, Question to ponder upon...
Let’s say, before your parents got married, your father was a Muslim and your mother a Christian. Then, when they got married, your mother converted to Islam and a year later you were born. What religion do you think you would be following now?
Let’s say, before your parents got married, your father was a Christian and your mother a Muslim. Then, when they got married, your mother converted to Christianity and a year later you were born. What religion do you think you would be following now?
Let’s say both your father and mother were Christians. Then, after they got married, they went to Tibet for their honeymoon where they visited a monastery. They were so impressed with how the Buddhist monks lived their lives that your parents converted to Buddhism. One year later you were born. What religion do you think you would be following now?
Today, there is more than a 99% chance you would be following the religion of your parents. There would be less than a 1% chance you would leave the religion of your parents to follow a new religion.
So are you 100% absolutely sure the religion you are following today is the correct religion? It is ‘correct’ only because you have been brought up in the religion of your parents. What if your parents never cared much for any religion and brought you up in an environment where there was no religion. Would you not probably be an atheist today?
How many of you have pondered on this question? Are you not what you are or who you are because of your parents? What if your parents had made a mistake and left the ‘true’ religion they were born into to embrace a ‘false’ religion? The religion you were brought up in would now become the ‘true’ religion while the earlier religion that your parents abandoned would be the ‘false’ religion.
Hence which is ‘true’ and which is ‘false’? Is ‘true’ the new religion of your parents that you were brought up in or their old religion which they abandoned?
Hence, also, is true and false subjective and merely an opinion based on what you have been raised to believe? Or is true and false real and tangible?
Apart from Christianity, Islam is the only world’s main religion that recognizes Jesus or Isa as more than just an ordinary human being. While Islam does not accept him as the son of God, Islam still holds Isa in a high esteem as one of God’s prophets who delivered His words, a messenger who performed many miracles, including his birth from a virgin, someone that those who declare to be Muslims are compelled to revere.
Prophet Isa’s name is mentioned explicitly no less than 25 times in the Quran more than the name of Prophet Muhammad himself. The 19th chapter of the Quran is entitled “Maryam”, which was named after Prophet Isa’s mother.
Christians believe that Christianity came from Jesus and the Bible was written by the Disciples of Jesus but inspired by God and that Jesus was crucified and then resurrected before he was raised to heaven. As such, we have to depend on the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to find any reference to Jesus because none of the secular records mention him. The Gospels were all written over more than 100 years and after Paul’s letters. So that would place them between the years 58 and almost 200. Mark’s Gospel has to be after the year 70 because he makes references to the Jewish-Roman War and the destruction of the temple that happened between the years 66 and 70.
Luke 1:1-2 says his story is handed down to his generation so that means he is not an eyewitness but is writing from hearsay. Matthew also lets slip that he is writing long after the event and was not a witness to the events.
Matthew quotes Jesus as telling Peter that ‘upon this rock I will build a church’. Peter must have been very confused with this statement because churches did not exist yet at that time so no one had any clue of that concept. So Matthew was not writing about the past but about the ‘present’ when churches already existed then.
Matthew 10.38 quotes Jesus as saying ‘He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me’. However, Jesus did not know yet at that time that he would be arrested and crucified. John 10:17 then quotes Jesus as saying ‘Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again’ when even Jesus did not know yet that that was going to happen.
Luke 2:1-4 says Jesus was born in the year of the universal tax census when Augustus was Caesar and Quirinius was the governor of Syria. Mathew, Mark and John do not mention this, though. The error here is that Quirinius was not the governor then and he became governor in 6 CE. And, according to the Roman records, the first census was done during the reign of Vespasian in the year 74 CE.
Matthew then says that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great who died four years before Jesus was supposed to have been born and ten years earlier than what Luke reported.
Mark says that just weeks before his death Jesus travelled to Jerusalem followed by a multitude of people. He travels to Galilee, then Capernaum, crosses the Jordan River, and goes to Jericho, Bethphage and Bethany before entering Jerusalem.
John, however, says that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, ‘which caused a great sensation’, and this enraged the Chief Priest and Pharises, who then plotted to kill him. From that time on Jesus stopped travelling openly and went into hiding.
According to Mark, Matthew and Luke, Jesus died at 3.00pm on the afternoon of Passover, which is the 15th of Nisan of the Jewish calendar. John, however, says that Jesus died on the day before Passover, which is on the 14th of Nisan. However, all four Gospels ‘agree’ that it was on a Friday. So it is either Friday the 14th or Friday the 15th.
John tells us that when it was time for Jesus to be crucified he would not let anyone else carry the cross up the hill. Matthew, Mark and Luke say that Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross.
While on the cross, John tells us that Jesus said ‘woman, behold your son’. Mark and Matthew tells us that Jesus said ‘My god, my god, why have you forsaken me?’ while Luke tells us tell us that Jesus said ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing’.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were supposed to be Jews so that means they would know Jewish laws, customs and traditions of that time. However, according to Haim Cohn, the Attorney General of Israel who later became Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, what the Gospels reported regarding the trial of Jesus could not have happened because it goes against the legal system of that time.
The Gospel writers also do not seem to understand Jewish politics of that time. The Pharisees and the High Priest, who was a Sadducee, would never collaborate and conspire against Jesus because they hated each other and were bitter enemies. The Pharisees, in fact, regarded the High Priest as a Roman running dog or a ‘trained monkey’.
Then the Gospels tell us that Pilate resorted to the Jewish tradition during Passover of releasing the prisoners to the crowd and let the crowd decide who they want killed — Jesus or Barabbas. However, the Jews had no such tradition and neither did the Romans.
Mark tells us that Jesus travelled on the Sea of Galilee where there were storms and high waves. Actually it is just a small fresh-water lake fed by the Jordan River and is about the same width as Lake Geneva in Switzerland and less than one-third its length — and there are no storms and high waves there either. Mark tells us that Jesus disembarked in Gerasa, which is actually 30 miles inland.
Matthew then tells us that Jesus disembarked in Gadara, which is eight miles inland. So both those places are not ports.
In 313, Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan followed by the Nicaea Council in 325 in Turkey and the Council of Hippo Regius in 398 in Algeria.
Holier Than Thou, The Divine Being!!!
Can a Man be of Divine in stature? Why do we term priest, pope, monk, ulamak, padre, preacher,father, as Man Of God? Should One dress up so as to be a look alike of whom He Idolise? Is it OK to idolise whom He follows (eg. Prophet Muhammad) as long as one is not idolising God for there can only be a One true God?
Over the 300 years since the ascension of Jesus, the Christian world was in disarray. So, in 325, Constantine brought together 2,000 bishops from all over the world with instructions that they would not be allowed to go home until they resolve the issue of the nature of Jesus and his relationship to God.
The discord of the Christian world was whether Jesus was human or divine.
After months of quarrelling and arguing, the Council handed to Constantine what is now known as the Nicene Creed, outlining for the first time the official and sanctioned orthodox beliefs of the Christian Church.
“He is Light from Light, true God from true God, and begotten not made, of the same substance as the Father.” Jesus is literally the Son of God (as Paul said) and not allegorically the Son of God (as the Jesus Movement of Jerusalem said).
Basically, this doctrine is based on the Letters of Paul.
Those who disagreed with this Creed were immediately banished from the Christian Empire and some even put to death for the crime of heresy and/or blasphemy and their teachings banned.
In 398, another group of bishops assembled in Hippo Regius to canonise what Christians today call the New Testament. More than half the 27 books of the New Testament are either by Paul or about Paul.
It must also be noted that there was serious conflict between Paul and the Jesus Movement of Jerusalem regarding other matters of doctrine. The Jesus Movement argued that Jesus came to fulfil the Laws of Moses, not to abolish them like what Paul argued. And to become a Christian you must get circumcised and you are not exempted from circumcision like Paul said, who himself was circumcised.
In 57, James and the apostles demanded that Paul come to Jerusalem to face the Apostolic Council to answer to the charge of deviant teachings. In Paul’s own account of the meeting in a letter to the Galatians soon after that, Paul said that he was ‘ambushed by false believers’. Paul, who was clearly upset and at odds with the Council, left Jerusalem for Rome after that to continue with his own church that was considered a breakaway church from the Church of Jerusalem.
And this is the bone of contention for the Muslims. Jesus as the Son of God has a literal meaning and not, as some Christians say, is merely allegorical. Paul meant it literally and not allegorically, and the Church of Jerusalem disagreed with this and called it deviant teachings.
And this was why Paul was ousted from the Church of Jerusalem, after which he set up his own church in Rome, and considered a deviant church by the Church of Jerusalem. James and the Apostolic Council insisted that Jesus was human and not divine and to say otherwise is blasphemous. So can you imagine the outrage of the Muslims when you say that Jesus is the Son of Allah? Even James, the brother of Jesus, was outraged.
The Creator of God
Muslims, just like the Christians, are very vague about the history of the Islamic and Christianity movements before the so-called religious scholars took over and reinterpreted Islam and Christianity. Their understanding of Islam and Christianity is based on what they have been told in the Hadith and the New Testament.
And that is why there seems to be similarity of Muslim Hadith to the Christian New Testament. Both were written after Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ and both were written to ‘explain’ Islam and Christianity.
The Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphs reinterpreted Islam after the time of Muhammad while the Roman Emperor Constantine reinterpreted Christianity after the time of Jesus.
Hence the Islam and Christian teachings we see today are not the original teachings of Muhammad and Jesus. Hence, also, the secular belief of separation of church and state are foreign to both Islam and Christianity.
I said earlier that Islam and Christianity were originally movements. And this was what they were, movements. They were not religions per se. They were a complete way of life and a system.
The Qur’an calls Islam an adeen while the early Christians called theirs the Jesus Movement. The word Christianity was never used and it was about a movement regarding the reformation and restoration of the original Jewish faith.
Muhammad’s mission was to establish an Islamic system while Jesus’ mission was to establish a Jewish system. It was not just about doctrine, prayers and rituals but also about an administrative and political system.
Islam and Christianity were political movements. And that was why Muhammad and Jesus were both considered seditious and a danger to the ruling government of their days.
Mekah already had 360 Gods and religions. So one more made no difference to the Mekah authorities. Mekah also had three religions amongst those 360 that propagated the concept of the One God. Hence there was no problem with Muhammad talking about his One God.
But Muhammad was not just talking about a new religion of the One God. He was talking about changing the system, the administrative and political system. And this was the danger that Muhammad posed.
If Muhammad had just propagated his doctrine and rituals, that would have been quite acceptable to the Mekah authorities. What is one more religion when they already had 360? But to talk about changing the administrative system and the system of government was not something the Mekah authorities could ignore.
Hence Muhammad was forced to go into exile or suffer the consequences of a death sentence
.
The same thing happened to Jesus. He was arrested for treason and the punishment for treason is crucifixion. Jesus was not just preaching a new religion. He was proposing a change of system. And that was why they took action against him and punished him according to how those guilty of treason would normally be punished in those days.
Both Muhammad and Jesus propagated war, war against the system. In fact, the Jews had been at war with the Romans for quite some time. But Jesus was not only at war with the Romans. He was at war with those who collaborated with the Romans as well, the lackey of the Romans in the Jewish hierarchy.
Paul, of course, disagreed with this. He was a Roman citizen so he felt that the church must work with the Romans. Others such as Peter, Paul, etc., disagreed. So there was a falling out between Paul and those from the original Jesus movement. Paul then moved to Rome to continue his compromising brand of Christianity, in opposition to Peter, who was also in Rome, who preached his more firebrand form of Christianity.
The same happened to Muhammad. The Mekah authorities negotiated with Muhammad for him to tone down a bit. They can allow a docile brand of a One God religion as long as this does not involve bringing down the government and changing the system.
But Muhammad was uncompromising so they planned to get rid of him and Muhammad had to leave Mekah and escape to Medina, what is known as the Hijrah.
Secularism was not acceptable to both Muhammad and Jesus. If Muhammad and Jesus had accepted the concept of separation of church and state the authorities would have left them alone. But Muhammad and Jesus disagreed that religion must be under the state and instead the state must be under religion.
Those who say that religion and politics should not mix and should be separated go against what Muhammad and Jesus taught. They can quote all sorts of verses from the Hadith and the New Testament to support this argument of separation of church and state but this was not what Muhammad and Jesus taught.
But then the Hadith and the New Testament were created by the powers-that-be of their time. They were created after the time of Muhammad and Jesus. And this was so that the power over religion can be taken away from the anti-authority scholars and placed in the hands of the government of the day.
And that was why many Muslim and Christian scholars were put to death over the last 2,000 years. Those who were militant and preached a militant brand of Islam and Christianity were killed. And the state took over the powers of religion so that secularism could be propagated.
Eventually, over 2,000 years, those who remained were those who agreed that religion and politics should be separated. Those who did not were not allowed to live.
Those who chose to remain in Christendom died. Those who escaped to pagan areas such as the Arabian Peninsula lived. And it was those Christians and Jews who did not accept the government version of their religion and who escaped to pagan areas who were the ones that Muhammad came into contact with.
So, to say that Islam and politics should not mix is wrong. Islam is politics, as is Christianity, although Christians would not admit this.
And this is why you should not just listen to imams and priests. They do not tell you the truth. They tell you what the government wants them to tell you. And was this not why Jesus was anti-priest?
Allah (God) says in the Quran, "There shall not be anyone from People of the Book, but shall believe in him before his death and on the Day of Resurrection, he (Jesus) shall be a witness against them." (Quran 4: 159)
Furthermore, Allah (God) also says in the Quran, "And he (Jesus عليه السلام) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Resurrection); therefore have no doubt about it (the Hour). And follow me (Allah), this is a Straight Path." (Quran 43: 61)