that evil word again
a may 27 article on the front page of the ny times spoke of how christian evangelists are seeking to convert muslims to their versions of christianity. deriding islam, in reverend(?) willam graham' words, as an evil religion, the missionaries point out passages in the koran which allegedly incite muslims to go and kill all infidels. it is difficult as a muslim to explain to these ignorants that the passages they so authoritatively cite are, for one quoted out of context, and, that muslims are not homicidal maniacs with the quran in one hand and a grenade in another. as i've mentioned before(*), a major percentage of the muslim world does not even understand arabic, let alone comprehend the layers of meaning and wisdom the quran is comprises.
in any case the evangelists seem to be wasting their time, for i have heard of a lot of people converting to islam but of none to have converted from islam to any of the judaistic religions, never mind other polytheistic systems. islam may have its share of apostates but there don't seem to be too many who move to another belief system, why is this so? is islam so complete or perfect? are the other judaistic religions so lacking in lustre that they are unable to lure even a tiny percentage of the two billion muslims apparently suffering under this wicked religion?
i believe the reason lies in the fact that islam requires every muslim to accept and respect all the judaistic and bibilical prophets, from adam to jesus. if an evangelist comes to me and asks me to accept christ as my savior my reply will be that i already do accept jesus as the prophet before the last, Mohammed. Izaz Haque, in response to the ny times article says this in a letter to the editor,

For a Muslim to "embrace Jesus" is in itself a fallacy; Muslims already embrace Jesus as a prophet. Why, then, would a Muslim turn to another faith, especially Christianity, to complete his religious experience?

exactly the sentiment any muslim will express.

* in the "discussing the crisis" essays, they are in the archives
posted by ubaid - Monday, June 02, 2003 at 12:59 PM - 0 comments - post anonymously