[Faith-talk] Life and Religion, Faith in Islam versus other religions

[Brandon Olivares]

Mostafa,

We all know I’m not Christian, so I’m not trying to defend Christianity by any means.

But, you’ve set up a few straw men arguments here, as well as several fallacies, that I’d like to address.

Firstly, you said that faith in the west is only heart-based, and this is due to Christian beliefs.

I would disagree. There are many many places in the New Testament that encourages works as an expression of one’s faith.

The best that comes to mind at the moment is James 2:14-17

> What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.


Sounds almost exactly like what you were saying, right?

You can’t look at a people and say the religion is flawed because of it. Christianity is definitely flawed, but for other reasons than this. Islam is also flawed, for many of the same reasons.

Secondly, you say that churches use musical instruments, even though Jesus and his disciples never did.

As a side note to others reading, as an explanation: many Muslims are against the use of any musical instruments for any reason whatsoever, besides perhaps a drum on special occasions.

The New Testament itself doesn’t mention instruments, but it also doesn’t denounce them. This is interesting given the fact that instruments have a long history in the Jewish tradition. If Jesus were separating himself from the Jewish tradition, you’d think he’d specifically denounce anything he disapproved of.

Go back to the Old Testament and there are many mentions of music. David calming Saul by playing the lyre is the first that comes to mind. But also instruments were mentioned several times in connection with worship.

And I see zero negative effects of such inclusion, so not sure what your point is here.

Thirdly you speak of secularization. But you also admit this is an issue in Islam, so this does not separate the west from the east in any way.

In any religion, you’ll have those who follow it faithfully, and those who do not.

Again, as one who really doesn’t ascribe to any religion, I think it’s live and let live.

However, every religion has its positive sides, and every religion also has its flaws. But what you spoke of here just isn’t accurate, so respectfully I wanted to respond.

Brandon
> On May 28, 2016, at 8:03 AM, Mostafa via Faith-talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> Dear recipients, peace and blessings. Today I would like to talk to you briefly about something that is really affecting many people today, it is faith. Whether you are faithful or faithless, believer or Agnostic and perhaps even Atheist, you are somehow affected with faith. Generally speaking, faith in western tradition is generically  defined as belief in supernatural force that controls the universe or, an institution that expresses belief in divinity. Well, according to Islamic discernment, that definition is insufficient. Islam does not delineate faith that way. So, What is faith according to Islam then? Faith in Islam is belief in heart, expression in words and implementing in acts. What does that mean? Well, if you reflect a little, it consists of faith in all human factors, spiritual, which is what the heart holds, verbal, what is spoken and factual, which is your act. Islam disapproves the belief that someone paid for your sins and that you are indeed free of guilt. If someone carried my sin on my  behalf, well I suppose I am not held accountable then. That is what causes broad confusion in the west today. People consider faith as the mere belief in heart, without properly transmitting that faith into significant act that genuinely impacts life. So for instance, many people in the west today who consider themselves Christians, are engaged in various forms of what is widely known as illicit relationships, as boyfriends or girlfriends. They also may get inebriated on occasions and so on. Some women may dare to dress provocatively for attention or as part of their secular tradition. Faith does not have actual affect on day to day life in the western world. This phenomenon has reasons. First of which, is the absence of faith implementation. Regardless of numerous religious practices, they do not substantially affect temporal life as of social customs, commerce and other aspects. In the west, they do not reprobate unlawful transactions as of usury and associated illegitimate business ventures. I do not intend to provoke your offence with this. I seriously am concerned of how dispirited faith is in the west. The west  successfully operates secular life but in return, they approximately despise everything that is associated with or has faith. I hold Christian misapprehension accountable for what a deity is in the west, it massively impinged on how people view or recognise the deity. The explicit personification of the divine made faith an object of mockery, distraction, uncertainty, contention and disarray. I may sound a bit philosophical but I guess what I attempt to scrutinize is plainly discernible. Faith loss is a vastly common phenomenon in the west nowadays. Another reason for that is the  panoptic dispersion of dozens of religious denominations. These various religious sects are not as devout as we may like them to be. They mostly are dominated with western life-style. So for instance, if you visit Church services in western countries, you will see that part of the religious ceremony is  incorporation of musical instruments. Well of course, these practices are not authentically attested in scriptural authorities despite some apologetic attempts to prove otherwise. Thence Jesus, (peace and blessings be upon him) neither him nor any of his honourable disciples performed music as polemically, part of their worship. I may not be right about everything but, religion in the west is certainly affected with terrestrial influence. If you look at either Christmas or Easter, they almost became secular celebrations. You hardly notice any religious practice unless those who are committed to Church attending and they are really, insignificant compared to the vast majority. I am not attempting to denounce faith in the west. I am just reporting facts. Well here in the Muslim world, we almost are getting there. Our religion is continuously threatened of being ultimately secularised. From my previous post, you noticed that Ramadan is around the corner. This month is meant to be a month of day fasting and night praying. Well, people unfortunately, spend its day mostly sleeping and at night, well, eating so much desserts and watching television series whole night long. This is why in Ramadan, I do not sit with people that much, to save myself from falling into this. As a certified theologian, it is my duty to warn myself and others from the threat of faith extinction. It is quite on the edge in the west and we are next, unless we do something quick in order to revive the significance of spiritual life. We must look at how religion is presented to people. The tone along with the tool must be really renewed. We must look at controversial religious text as of Koran and Hadith and supplement our discernment with increasing our knowledge of Arabic and affiliated disciplines. This is why, education in Islam is indispensable. Well, that is enough for the time being. I wish you happy and blessed time, wherever you might be settled on earth and please, kindly accept my greetings from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
> Mostafa
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