WHAT ISLAM HAS TO OFFER THAT CHRISTIANITY CANNOT? [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

THE PURITY OF
FAITH

After a series of very
long and meaningful exchanges with a Christian student of Bible, who had also
read the fair amount of the Qur'an, the student finally decided to ask; "Show me
what Islam has to offer and let my heart and the grace God take over from there.
If Islam is indeed the true faith God will guide me to it. Peace!"

In response, I sent him the
following four lines from the Qur'an with the commentaries by the famous
translator Abdullah Yusuf Ali. In the original Arabic text these four short
sentences from Surah Al-Ikhlaas (112) have their endings in a poetic rhythm. It
is impossible to duplicate the beauty and marvel of that poetic outpouring it in
the translated text.

6296 The nature of Allah is here
indicated to us in a few words, such as we can understand. The qualities of
Allah are described in numerous places elsewhere, e.g., in lix. 22-24, lxii.
1, and ii. 255. Here we are specially taught to avoid the pitfalls into which
men and nations have fallen at various times in trying to understand Allah.
The first thing we have to note is that His nature is so sublime, so far
beyond our limited conceptions, that the best way in which we can realise Him
is to feel that He is a Personality, "He", and not a mere abstract conception
of philosophy. He is near us; He cares for us; we owe our existence to Him.
Secondly, He is the One and Only God, the Only One to Whom worship is due; all
other things or beings that we can think of are His creatures and in no way
comparable to Him. Thirdly, He is Eternal, without beginning or end, Absolute,
not limited by time or place or circumstance, the Reality. Fourthly, we must
not think of Him as having a son or a father, for that would be to import
animal qualities into our conception of Him. Fifthly, He is not like any other
person or thing that we know or can imagine: His qualities and nature are
unique. (112.1)

6297 This is to negative the idea of
Polytheism, a system in which people believe in gods many and lords many. Such
a system is opposed to our truest and profoundest conceptions of life. For
Unity in Design, Unity in the fundamental facts of existence, proclaim the
Unity of the Maker. (112.1)

6298 Samad is difficult to translate by one
word. I have used two, "Eternal" and "Absolute". The latter implies: (1) that
absolute existence can only be predicated of Him; all other existence is
temporal or conditional; (2) that He is dependent on no person or things, but
all persons or things are dependent on Him, thus negativing the idea of gods
and goddesses who ate and drank, wrangled and plotted, depended on the gifts
of worshippers, etc. (112.2)

6299 This is to negative the Christian idea
of the godhead, "the Father", "the only-begotten Son" etc. (112.3)

6300 This sums up the whole argument and
warns us specially against Anthropomorphism, the tendency to conceive of Allah
after our own pattern, an insidious tendency that creeps in at all times and
among all peoples. (112.4)

Note: Neither the Christ Jesus
himself nor any of his disciples (including John), ever wrote or claimed that
Jesus was "the begotten son" or "the only begotten son" of the Father. What one reads in the English translation of the
Gospel according to John is the INJECTION of this term from The Vulgate. In
response to the Arian claim that Jesus was made but not begotten, Jerome (c.
347-420) the famous apologist of the early Christian Church, translated the
Greek term "monogenes"
(meaning, "of a single kind") into Latin as "unigeitus" (meaning, "only begotten") in his translation of the Bible,
commonly known as The Vulgate. In 1592, The Council of Trent chose The Vulgate
as the authentic text in the matter of theology. The recent revised translations
that are done from the original Greek text written by John do render
"of a single kind" as the
correct translations in John 1:18 and 3:16.

For further details please read 'Anchor Bible' - Volume 29, The
Gospel according to John (i), Garden City, New York; publishers Doubleday
(1966), pages 13 and 14.

A reader's
question:

After reading this
article, a Christian surfer questioned;

If
God does not take on anthropomorphic abilities, explain how Mary was
pregnated?

Response:

It was
the spoken word of God - "The Command", that was in the beginning with the God -
The Creator. That Command was DIVINE.. All things came into being through
THIS COMMAND..

(In the opening of John's Gospel, "The
God's Command" "Logos" has been SUBSTITUTED with the word "Jesus" by the
Church.)

There was Life (soul) within this
Divine Command. When the Divine Command entered the womb of Virgin Mary, the
conception happened...

FROM CRITIC "ANSWERING
ISLAM":

Under the
website with the above title a Christian critic Andrew Vargo writes:

"Muhammad used this Sura (and its statement
of Tauhid) against the Pagans, Jews, and Christians, depending on the
situation at hand. For example, the Christians believed in One God, however,
Muhammad objected to the idea that God had a son and this sentiment is
reflected in the third ayah. He also objected to the idea of the Trinity
(Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), which he completely misunderstood. Muhammad
incorrectly believed and taught that Christians believed in three gods and
even implied that Mary was a member of the
Trinity."

RESPONSE: Majority of the Christians believe that Jesus was "begotten" by
his Father. My question to this belief is: Did the
Act of Begetting in reality ever take place?
If so, Where was Jesus before the Act? Is it not true
that Jesus the 2nd Person of the Trinity supposed to be "co-eternal" (none existed before or
later in time) with the 1st Person, his Father, according to the Christian
Doctrine of Trinity? Please respond.

Mr.
Vargo writes: The word "begotten" is one of
English translations of the Greek word "monogenes" which means "only", "one of a
kind" and the scholars are debating whether it also can mean "only
begotten". Mr. Vargo, are you now admitting
that the BELIEF of "begotten son" is a debatable issue and Jesus may have been or may not have been begotten by the 1st Person of
the Trinity? Your above statement in fact proves that
Islam has The Unwavering Truth and the Christians are trying to come closer to
that Truth.

As
for your FALSE accusation that the prophet "implied that Mary was a member of
the Trinity", please read my article on the subject. I hope you will remove
these false remarks after reading it.