In the thread On Baha’i and Freedom of Religion, there is a question lingering in the background: choice of religion. Anyone who has read my blog for long enough (gosh aren’t I presuming) will know I’ve struggled with the concept of religious pluralism on and off. The question being: are all religions offerings at a huge divine banquet, and it’s up to yourself to pick which delicious dish you prefer, all being equal in nutrition and tastiness, or is there one better than all the rest?

Proponents of each religion tend to go for the latter and assert that their faith carries God’s favour (speaking theistically). Each has miracles and testimonies of faith that have convinced the “true believers” they are following the right way. The problem with the former is that it leaves little room for judgment. Why be a Christian rather than a Jew, a Buddhist rather than a Muslim? Especially when the holy texts of the various faiths make exclusivist claims. For example:

Christianity: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Islam: “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him.” (Qur’an Al-Imran 3:85)
Baha’i: “The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof hath gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed.” (Kitab al-Aqdas, 1)
Maitreya: “The Revelation has been given.  The truth is here.  We know the way to do it.” (Calling Elects) Read the rest of this entry »

There shall be no coercion in matters of faith. Distinct has now become the right way from [the way of] error: hence, he who rejects the powers of evil and believes in God has indeed taken hold of a support most unfailing, which shall never give way: for God is all-hearing, all-knowing. (al-Baqara 2:256)

As Barney Leith, a prominent UK Baha’i whose blog posting I felt was prejudicial against Islam and what mainstream Muslims believe, has written in a subsequent blog-post:

It seems to me that, if we want genuine freedom for ourselves to seek truth and to make informed and conscientious choices about our beliefs, we must respect that freedom in others. To respect others’ freedom to choose and change their religion or belief, we actually have to respect their humanity, to accept that they are responsible moral actors, just we ourselves are.

I couldn’t agree more. What’s more, it’s a very Islamic sentiment. Surprised? Read the rest of this entry »

When I heard the news that the remains of Jesus, peace be upon him, and his family had claimed to be found, I sort of thought “wow, the Qur’an proved right yet again”.  You see, the Qur’an says that Jesus, peace be upon him, was not crucified, even though it was made to appear so.  There are two schools of thought within Islam over what happened to him: some say he was physically raised up to heaven instead, whilst another opinion (and the one I have always thought had greater strength in it) holds that Jesus, peace be upon him, lived for a further time and then died and was buried at a later time.  His return at the Last Days is a matter of eschatology, not history.
Now, James Cameron claims that the tomb of Jesus, peace be upon him, and his family has been found.  It could turn out to be another Shroud of Turin, but you just never know!!!

There is a false meme floating around on anti-Islamic and neo-con websites, that there are only two types of people in the Islamic worldview: Muslim (goodies) and Infidels (everyone else). This is incorrect and a dangerous distortion of Islamic teachings. It is dangerous because it buys into the ‘clash of civilisations’ myth that the far right-wing in America, and the militant cultists like to propogate to justify their hatred and aggression.

Actually, the Qur’an describes a variety of archetypes of people. They include good and bad from among those who call themselves Muslims, as well as good and bad among those who do not follow the religion brought by the Prophet Muhammad , peace be upon him. Here is a selection:

Neutral archetypes (can act in good ways or in bad ways):

• insān which means human being (or Man): i.e. “We created Man from sounding clay, from mud moulded into shape.” (al-Hijr 15:26)
• ahl al-kitāb which means all people of previous revelation: i.e. “Say: ‘O followers of earlier revelation! Come unto that tenet which we and you hold in common…’” (al-Imran 3:64). This is further divided into those who are righteous (e.g. al-Imran 3:113 with whom it is possible to have interfaith marriages for example) and a section who have not held faithful to their covenant (e.g. al-Baqarah 2:109).
• Jews: i.e. “It was We who revealed the law (to Moses): therein was guidance and light. By its standard have been judged the Jews.” (al-Ma’ida 5:44)
• Christians: i.e. “Those who believe (in the Qur’an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians, Christians, Magians, and polytheists–God will judge between them on the Day of Judgment: for God is witness of all things.” (al-Hajj 22:17)

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the memes that floats around in the anti-Islam (mostly Christian dominionist and neo-conservative) websites is that there is no golden rule in Islam. The golden rule (or rule of reciprocity) is probably best known by English speakers as “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The version commonly quoted on websites pertaining to Islam is the hadith:

“None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”

Anti-Islam writers then try and claim that actually the word here for “brothers” means only fellow Muslims, even though the Qur’an refers to all humanity as children of Adam (7:26; 17:70; 36:60 etc.) so we are all brothers and sisters in humanity.

Fine, then here are some other versions of the golden rule expressed by the Prophet Muhammad , that are unambiguously referring to everyone: Muslim or not.

“Do unto all men as you would wish to have done unto you; and reject for others what you would reject for yourselves.” (Abu Dawud)

“Hurt no one so that no one may hurt you.” (Farewell Sermon)

“There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.” (Ibn- Majah)

Not to mention there is a PLETHORA of golden rule material particularly in the Sufi literature, where even the statements of the Prophet Jesus are recast as hadiths to be followed. It is simply a bold-faced lie that there is no golden rule in Islam.