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November 4, 2019 - January 24, 2020
AT DAWN ACROSS THE ISLAMIC WORLD, sonorous voices usher the sun over the horizon.
To the alien observer, it might seem that the adhan is the very thing that rends the night sky, separating dark from day, infusing life into the Muslim lands and people.
some of what my parents saw as impertinence was actually a culture clash; I was cut out of different cultural cloth than they were. They thought I was fine Pakistani linen, but I was more of an Asian-American cotton blend.
Regarding Jesus, there are two issues on which Muslims particularly disagree with Christians: that Jesus died on the cross and that Jesus claimed to be God.
She responded softly yet adamantly, employing the very sneaky maneuver of being herself.
“The purpose of religion is to make good people and a good society.
So if we define Islam by the beliefs of its adherents, it may or may not be a religion of peace. But if we define Islam more traditionally, as the system of beliefs and practices taught by Muhammad, then the answer is less ambiguous. The earliest historical records show that Muhammad launched offensive military campaigns31 and used violence at times to accomplish his purposes.32 He
used the term jihad in both spiritual and physical contexts, but the physical jihad is the one Muhammad strongly emphasizes.33 The peaceful practice of Islam hinges on later, often Western, interpretations of Muhammad’s teachings, whereas the more violent variations of Islam are deeply rooted in orthodoxy and history.34
Effective evangelism requires relationships. There are very few exceptions.
“If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the foundation collapses and Christianity is false.”
“The only thing we’ve got is the resurrection? Buddy, that’s all we need!”
If Jesus truly did claim to be God, then the Quran is wrong and Islam is a false religion.
for me, as for most Muslims, an uncritically reverential and fulsome
assessment of Islam was a given.
even the earliest records of Muhammad’s life are altered versions of previous stories that were also altered.
What young Muslims learn about Muhammad is an airbrushed portrait — this blemish removed and that feature emphasized — that makes him fit a desired image. Through selective quotation, Muhammad becomes the picture-perfect prophet.
But when I arrived at hadith 1.24, my jaw dropped. In it, Muhammad says, “I have been ordered by Allah to fight against people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is Allah’s Apostle, and offer the prayers perfectly and give the obligatory charity . . . then they will save their lives and property from me.”
It should not be assumed that the Quran is the Islamic analogue of the Bible. It isn’t. For Muslims, the Quran is the closest thing to an incarnation of Allah, and it is the very proof they provide to demonstrate the truth of Islam.
most Muslims have faith in the Quran’s perfect preservation.
Muslims believe none of it has been changed, not even a dot. Allah promises to guard the Quran in 15:9, and Muslims believe its preservation is a testament to Allah’s protection over His message.
The Quran is the cornerstone of the Islamic worldview, underlies all of sharia, serves as the fulcrum of daily devotions, and provides the source of Islamic identity.
It is no understatement to say that Muslims often risk everything to embrace the cross.
Islam is not just a set of religious beliefs. It is an all-encompassing identity.
young Muslims are convinced by their families that being a Muslim means to affirm Muhammad’s prophethood and the Quran’s divine origin while at the same time resisting the very idea of becoming anything else, especially a Christian.
In the East, and for Islam in particular, what is accepted as true is generally what the authorities tell you — and you are expected to embrace what they teach.
The inviolability of the Quran is truly an eternal life and death issue to Muslims around the world.
