Are you looking for the truth?
Are you looking for the justice?
Read this message till her end and you will guided to the straight way
What we’d like to explain here is why Muslims follow Islaam, and some of the
rationale behind their adherence to their religion. Unfortunately, Islaam is an
oft-misunderstood religion and Islamic beliefs are so frequently distorted.
We
hope this will help correct some misconceptions and increase understanding of
this fast-growing religion which
is followed by over 1.2 billion people.
Muslims believe that there is an absolute truth and that we do not necessarily
act on "imperfect knowledge", as some believe. Our logic necessitates that one
of the following options must be correct:
There is only one god, or
There are many gods, or
There is no god.
We likely believe that one of these three views must be correct, and the other
two necessarily false. This could be a logical explanation why Muslims are of
the view that not all systems of belief are correct. While Islaam teaches that
"there is no compulsion in religion" (the meaning of a verse in the Qur'an,
2:256), it also teaches that the Truth is distinct from errors. The Qur'an, a
Scripture revealed to the final Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in many
verses invites people to reason and critically analyze its teachings, so that
they may believe that such a Book is a Revelation, and that it could not have
been produced by someone who had never read or written (since Muhammad, peace be
upon him, was illiterate).
The Qur'an says that "Whosoever wills let him believe, and whosoever wills let
him disbelieve" [18:29], as one's believing or not believing does not benefit or
harm the Creator of the universe in any way. One's belief is for one's own
benefit. That belief should be based on knowledge and clear proofs, rather than
on blind faith and it should also not contradict our reasoning, for why would
God create reason and religion that fundamentally contradict each other?
One could ask, are there really any rational criteria at our disposal, based on
which we can judge various claims of knowing the Truth?
There are certainly rational criteria at our disposal, and one's emotional
commitment to religion should be preceded by an intellectual commitment to it.
Reason, in fact, is our primary means for finding the Truth.
We can put any religion or system of beliefs to test by examining whether it is
rational, universal, applicable at all times, in all places, and by people of
all colors and languages, and whether the religion's Scripture is free of
alteration, internal and external inconsistencies. A scripture is internally
inconsistent if it contains discrepancies and contradictions within its text,
and externally inconsistent if it contradicts facts (not theories) from science
and nature as we know them. For it is impossible that God does not know His
creation or that which He creates.
We say "He", but it should be noted that Muslims believe that God is distinct
from His creation and there is nothing like unto Him. We humans cannot describe
and attain to the utmost of His greatness, which is as He described Himself in
the Qur'an. Muslims believe in pure monotheism and they reject views of those
who give human characteristics of weakness and imperfection to the Divine (for
example, the belief of some that God wrestled with a human, or that He was in a
woman's womb for nine months, that he ate food, fulfilled his needs, was dead
for a period of time, or has partners - we say, far above is God from such
imperfections), or those who attribute Divine characteristics of perfection to
humans or to any of God's creation.
Muslims also believe that this world neither created itself, nor that it came
from nothing - and we believe that it is a product of Intelligence, rather than
chance. We also believe in all prophets sent from God, including Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace be upon them all. We believe that all
of them called to the same religion, submission to the Creator, alone with no
partner.
Our experience tells us that a few minutes of reasoning can usually leave us
persuaded in the truth of God's absolute Oneness and Uniqueness, so what remains
to be studied is which religion is truly monotheistic in its nature.
One of the major criteria for distinguishing the Truth from errors, that we
would like to stress, is the authenticity of the religious scripture. In
reality, Muslims are the only ones who even claim to have an authentic scripture
from God, in its original form, of which not a single letter has been changed.
We say Muslims are the only ones because, for example, many Jewish and Christian
scholars dispute the authenticity of their books. Most other religions admit
that their scriptures are in fact human writings. And if we say that there is a
Truth and God, we are likely to believe that God wants us to do certain things
and abstain from others. Muslims believe that God communicates with His creation
through His chosen Prophets. If we are of the view that God would not leave us
without a reliable Revelation, then the mere fact that Muslims are the only ones
who even claim to have an authentic revelation could attest to the truthfulness
of their claim. However, as mentioned earlier, the Qur'an invites us to reason
and to accept faith based on knowledge, rather than the blind following of our
traditions.
"Do they not then consider the Qur’an carefully? Had it been from other than
Allah, they would surely have found therein much contradiction." [4:82]
This is only an introduction in which we wanted to raise a few issues regarding
the criteria for knowing the Truth. We have by no means given an exhaustive list
(of these criteria), and we encourage you to visit the following links to gain
more knowledge and a better understanding of Islaam.
