Since Islam insists that religion must dictate the form and substance of government, can Christianity, or any other religion, co-exist peaceably with Islam (the Muslim religion)? Note especially the concluding paragraph.
I had an e-mail exchange with a man whose job is to speak publicly in an effort to improve relations between Christians and Muslims. We had had an earlier exchange regarding a historically questionable statement in my web page http://www.rationallink.org/religextr.htm (third paragraph -- now corrected). I quote below the actual contents of those e-mails in full since a summary is not nearly as persuasive as the actual exchange. In chronological order:
Some months ago we had a brief exchange regarding my careless portrayal of history in presenting Islam at my web site. I corrected that to make it, I think, consistent with history. I had hoped we could continue exchanges in an effort at mutual understanding since I feel that fundamentalists in both the Christian and Muslim camps must alter their strategies in order to avoid a devastating conflict. As I understand, throughout pre-history and history religions have come and gone; in order to survive they must remain relevant; it is a matter of adapt or perish.
For whatever reason, you included me in your response to David Schroeder about "Jesus: Creator or Creation." And that has reminded me of our earlier exchanges and my hope for continuation.
From Ken Wear. Visit his web site at http://www.rationallink.org
Dear David and Friends,
Peace be upon all the believers of one God!
First of all, thanks for coming to my presentation on: Jesus: Creator or creation?. I enjoyed our interaction that day.
I am attaching my response to your article. I request if you can also print, in the Loyola
University newspaper, my response along with yours. It will assist the reads in evaluating
both viewpoints and deciding for the better, God willing.
It will be my pleasure to continue such interactions with mine and your group in the future.
Thanks, and Regards.
Sabeel Ahmed, 1-877-WHY-ISLAM for a free copy of Quran Translation, sabeeldawah@yahoo.com
Dear Friends,
I have attached above my response to "Jesus: Creator or Creation" to be published in
Veritas. I am eager to hear your response. If you are quick enough, your insight might
enable me to adapte the article and make changes before it is published? Thanks for taking
the time to engage in this dialogue with me!
God bless you, David Schroeder
P.S. I had trouble downloading the file as an attachment. Did it open ok?
Nice to hear back from you. Apologies, I was not able to converse with you, got busy
with work and speaking assignments.
Yes, I included you in my email list of 'Jesus: Creator or creation', because I thought it
will be relevant to what we had discussed previously, and also, since I was comparing and
contrasting Quranic and Biblical verses, I thought you would be interested.
Now regarding your view that religions should adapt or perish, I would say that you are
partially correct. It is true for almost all faiths except Islam. Islam is not a man made
religion which should keep on changing its rules and regulations each decade or century.
Islam is the guidance provided by God to humanity. As such, God, our creator knows that
His guidance will be relevant and beneficial for humanity, now and till the end of time.
Thus, there is no need for Islam to adapt to the world, it is the other way around. It is
the world which should adapt and accept Islam for its success or it will perish in its
immorality, racial hatred, drugs, family break-down, guns and violence, suicides, rapes etc.
Islam provides solutions to the above mentioned perils of the society and likewise provides
the most complete guidance, covering all aspects of a society and persons life, namely,
Social, family, financial, educational, legal, political, spiritual etc. Thus, with is supreme
guidance for the society, it is in the best interest of the society to ADAPT to Islam for its
success.
Thank, Peace and Regards, Sabeel Ahmed
Call 1-877-WHY-ISLAM for a FREE copy of a Quran Translation in English
[Balance deleted since it is the e-mail first above and inclusion would be a duplication.]
Thank you for your response. While I am grateful for your forthrightness, it was with
great sadness that I read your message. When I compare records of the life of the Prophet
and his teachings, as recorded in history, with your unflinching and uncompromising
statement that no adaptation of Islam is possible, I see no possibility but a wrenching
confrontation until either (1) all religions except Islam disappear from among men or (2)
Islam disappears from among men. Whatever the future holds, I hope it can be accomplished
by gentle persuasion rather than subversion or force.
I heartily endorse your mission to improve relations between faiths and question my
conclusion that you support fundamentalists, such as bin Laden, who is, after all, simply
continuing the Prophet's program to seek dominance [or submission, since one is tantamount
to the other]. If moderate men cannot compromise, peaceful co-existence is not possible
and the stage is set for a conflict that must of necessity result in utter destruction of one
or the other. Perhaps for the good of humanity and Earth that should happen. But I prefer
fostering understanding and cooperation between the various religious faiths; to my mind
that requires good will and compromise by all.
Should you chance to visit my web site, you will find there a presentation of Rational
Theism, an alternate understanding of deity and His role, which I feel must ultimately
prevail in order to coalesce reason with religion. Islam, Christianity, Theism, Buddhism,
Confucianism, Hinduism, . . .? Is there truly only one path to the fulfillment we all
seek? Must all be wrong except the one?
From Ken Wear. Visit his web site at http://www.rationallink.org
[Balance deleted since it would duplicate what appears above.]
Your BACK button should return you to the index.
----- Original Message ----
From: David Schroeder
To: tturne2@luc.edu; mshaazu@yahoo.com; aq_sheikh@hotmail.com; nkhan5@luc.edu; sabeeldawah@yahoo.com; fatherjonathan@foxnews.com
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:47:56 AM
Subject: Response to "Jesus: Creator or Creation"
From Sabeel Ahmed to Ken Wear dated 4-5-2007
Dear Ken,
----- Original Message ----
From: "kenwear@mycobbweb.com"
To: sabeel ahmed
Sent: Wednesday, April 4, 2007 6:59:00 PM
Subject: Re: Response to "Jesus: Creator or Creation"
To Sabeel Ahmed from Ken Wear 4-07-2007
Should you have any question about the consequence of the success of the Muslim religion
dominating public policy, think "Taliban" and recall the wide publicity given to the 2007
case of a man who wished to convert from the Muslim religion: He was sentenced to death
for his exercise of conscience. He was allowed to escape Afghanistan to avoid the penalty,
but the severity imposed for this exercise of conscience should not escape your attention.
Nor should the fact that the court, in imposing the sentence, was simply following the
dictates of their state religion, Islam.