[Faith-Talk] Greenville Avenue, the Bible, what's at steak??

[Mustafa Almahdy]

  Hello everyone, I hope you are keeping really well. I read the Bible
couple of times until now. I found what the Koran told me about it. I
found signs of the divine word and some other words beside that. I
have been enormously incensed at  Lot’s tale with his daughters. What
is the providential sentiment in this incestuous account? His
daughters were afraid of being abandoned if their father deceased.
Thence, they wanted a young male member in the family to preserve
their lineage. Instead of urging their father to licitly get married,
they got him drunk, seduced him and committed incest with him. Each
one of them did so in one night, so either one of them could bear a
son. I am not sure, is this their son,  brother or something else?
What could possibly justify this incestuous chronicle? I have listened
to various apologetic rebuttals be that as it may, they weren't
sufficiently convincing. However, if we speak about something like
serman on the mount, yes it has the divine message entailed. So , in a
nutshell, this is our belief in the Bible. We do not reject everything
in the Bible, because we are enjoined to believe in what Allah
revealed to our prophet and to prophets before him. However, we are
informed that people of the scripture have altered a tremendous amount
of its wording throughout the centuries. As I read the Bible, I
noticed that quite plainly. I still own the Bible in both English and
Arabic. As I stated, it is not our disposal to prejudiciously denounce
the Bible. It contains fragmented portions of the divine word. We do
not believe that stories which aren’t parentally guided are divinely
inspired. What is the moral implication of Lot’s story with his
daughters? Isn’t he the one who saved his household from Sodom and
Gomorrah? He saved them  except his spouse because she was involved in
atrocious acts. I urge you to read Lot’s story in the Koran and see
the difference. As Muslims, we don’t disesteem Allah’s prophets to
deify Jesus. Christians have unambiguously prefaced this concept.
Their portrayal of Christ is intemperately sacrilegious to the
Providential being. In Islam, we equally honour all Allah’s prophets
and messengers. We honour Noah, Job, Lot, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael,
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Zechariah, John whom
Christians today call the baptist, Jesus and Muhammad peace and
blessings be upon them. In Islam, we never tolerate portraying any of
those noble prophets and messengers in defamatory caricature. We never
impute inappropriate affairs to them. Islam is eminently prestigious
to Christianity when it comes to prophets. In Christian theology, they
are portrayed as patriarchs. Who is a patriarch? Well theologically, a
patriarch  is any of the early biblical characters regarded as fathers
of the human race. This is why their stories are not highly esteemed
in the Bible. Islam holds a totally different view about prophets.
What is a prophet in Islam? A prophet in Islam is someone that Allah
has critically chosen to deliver His divine sentiment to people. This
man has major characteristics. First, he doesn’t commit deadly sins.
Consequently, he never associates someone with Allah glory be to Him.
Second, his moral stance is of the best among people. He doesn’t lie,
cheat nor maltreat. Christians are obsessed with viciously aspersing
prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Be that as it may,
he is the noblest of mankind. In terms of this absurd comparison which
many of you have made between Jesus and Muhammad peace and blessings
be upon them, I wonder what Jesus will think of those who viciously
asperse prophet Muhammad who’s Jesus’s fellow in prophethood with
paedophilia? I am fine with repeating this offensive expression. It
has nothing to do with Muhammad’s honourable and prophetic character,
peace and blessings be upon him. It just unveils how   distasteful and
bizarre such assumptions are. In response to that, we honour and
respect Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon them. We never
   disparaged nor neglected any of Allah’s prophets. Christians
inadvertently speak unfavourably of Ishmael. They consider him pariah.
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) comes from
Ishmaelite descent. This is why early Jews of Medina rejected the
prophetic message. It has much to do with racial disparity. They
thought a prophet from different origin is disgraceful to their
unjustifiedly proclaimed ethnic superiority. Christians are typically
dominated with Jewish influence. Jews determined to detestably despise
Ishmaelite derivation and thence, Christians precisely imitated them.
It basically works like this, Jews rule, Christians follow. Despite
the fact that Jews are the ones until today who speak despicably of
Jesus and his mother, Christians fully endorse them in whatever they
do. Muslims, however, have in their most sacred text one chapter that
is wholly named after Jesus’s mother. It is called chapter of Mary. It
is numbered the nineteenth chapter in a regular Koranic index. It
talks about  Zechariah and his prayer to his Lord in seclusion to
grant him  a notable heir. Allah blessed him with prophet John  whom
Christians call the Baptist. Despite his spouse being barren, Allah
blessed them with a righteous son. The chapter also relates Mary’s
celibacy and the Nativity tale.  It is worthy of thorough reflection.
In this divine text, Allah revealed verses that are intended to
utterly vindicate Mary the virtuous from what Jews have ingloriously
denigrated her with. If she was married to someone called Joseph, how
could she still be virgin then? In our version of the story, she
indeed wasn’t married to anyone. I urge you to check the reference I
just cited and then decide, which one is appropriate? I call you to
enthusiastically embrace the providential covenant. I am not
interested in debates. I am just inviting you to Islam. This is what
we call Dawah, which is missionary activism for Islam. I proselytise
to my faith with remarkable evidence. I convey this assertion to
flamboyant  laity. You have deliberately intended to enrage Muslim
offence. Christian press and broadcast across the States commissioned
disparaging portraiture of major Islamic tenets. If you are truly
convinced that your Bible is sufficient to make people embrace the
faith you belong to, you would have not attempted to fallaciously
indispose our tradition. When I read the Bible, I encountered
explicitly erotic literature as in Ezekiel and Canticle of Canticles.
I simultaneously caught remarkable injunctions as in Leviticus and
Deuteronomy. I justly hold impartial view. I confirm once again, the
Bible contains the divine word in addition to many other words.
Therefore, it is smoothly passable among lay Christians and even
evangelists, the idea that the Bible might have been altered,
rectified, and even recontextualized. The Bible has been written by
numerous authors. Therefore, Christians constantly attempt to somewhat
convince mainly unqualified Muslims, that the Koran too, might have
been subjected to textual alteration or correction. They thence are
thrown with castigation by prominent scholars of Koran and its
associated disciplines. The Koran is not similar to the Bible in any
manner. First off, the Koran is still kept, revised, written, broadly
taught and memorised among Muslims in plainly eloquent Arabic. It is
sternly memorised, passed on, in particular, among those who do not
have sufficient competence of commanding classical Arabic which is
enormously miraculous. Each and every diacritical sign is pronounced
accurately. Hence, the text is far beyond of being possibly altered. I
wish to deeply converse with those who criticise Islamic culture
biasedly, especially those of pastoral arena. Our cultural
fundamentals are essentially derived from the Koran and the Sunnaah.
People who despise Islam for what it is do not have enough courage to
confront with us. I therefore insist to sternly stand firm against
such campaigns of deliberate obloquy. Islam is not to be diminished or
smirched. As to the Gospel and what it preaches, it certainly doesn’t
teach explicitly, that Jesus is indeed deified. He, peace and
blessings be upon him never said that about himself. I hear Christians
say, that they meet up with Muslim students at college campuses and
they often dominate them theologically. Well, why don’t you attempt to
scrutinise with genuinely certified theologians? I urge those who are
actively involved in evangelical occupation to join me in a
theological conversation regarding the Bible and the Koran. If you’re
not inwardly petrified, you should have not hesitated to speak to us
one to one. To those who attempt to purposely marginalise our
heritage, be brave for just once and meet with me, one to one.  If you
were sufficiently confident of your critique, you should have not been
waffled. I am stunned though at those who criticise the Koran and its
theological sentiment, yet, they don’t speak Arabic. Isn’t that
strange a little bit? Even those who may speak some dialects of the
aforenamed language, they haven’t yet mastered its classical rhetoric.
How are they competent to criticise the Koran then? The Koran speaks
fervidly of the divine status. In some segments of the biblical text,
this honourable portrait is fairly apportioned. Nonetheless, in some
passages, God needs to rest, he couldn’t see Adam as he hid behind the
trees of the garden, he regrets and forgets. Is that a proper
portrayal of the uniquely  worthy one to be worshipped? I would like
to discuss this concept in specific with you. If we are to worship,
shouldn’t our God be transcendent to typical boundaries and abilities?
In Islam, God is never harmed by our sins nor He benefits something
from our devotion. In mass Christendom, God seems to have needed to
throw his son overboard in order to redeem and forgive us. Why
couldn’t just He forgive our sinful deeds?  Is it absolutely necessary
for Him to sacrifice someone to do so? Oddly though, I caught God
forgiving Israel twice in the Old Testament. He has forgiven them
without the need to ransom someone. Well, God knows then how to
forgive unconditionally. How is that possibly conciliated with today’s
Christian belief and concept of God’s contingent forgiveness? I have
been posing these questions to missionary activists domestically and
abroad. Nonetheless, they evade tackling these queries. In Islam, if
someone committed any sin, he is just demanded to repent. God loves
penitents and pure ones. So, I keenly urge those who actively work in
the mission field to come to me and converse around these crucial
subjects. I am easily reachable in plenty of methods. I wish you have
sufficient courage to directly confront with genuine scholar of
Islamic Theology, it’s my major. It’s not so ethical to intently
attempt to selectively hunt those who are not theologically prepared
to engage with you. Typical Muslims are not theologically qualified to
respond to misconceptions or get in depth discussion about certain
belief or practice. Unfortunately, many of you recognise that and
thence, they unethically take advantage of the situation. That what
makes them perhaps look fraudulent in some form or another. Lastly, I
have been urged by some of you to read a book of someone called Nabeel
Qureshi, as he narrates his conversion journey. He was someone of
Pakistani descent, born in the States and, converted from the
eccentric cult of Ahmadiyya  to Christianity. He unfortunately died on
miserable incredulity September 2017. Well, what has this misguided
mortal got to do with my confident adherence of Islam? Couldn’t you
folks find us someone who is a bit more respectful than that? It’s
worthy to note, that Qureshi has died because of stomach cancer, aged
34. Because he has intently lied to people about the divine, Allah
glory be to Him developed a malignant disease to lead over onto his
death path. Once, I encounter an Iranian based and then, a Pakistani
man who had been led astray, as he embraced a gravely dissident
element as such. You must fathom folks, that if someone tells you he
is or was Muslim, you must make sure he doesn’t deceive you. No ones
are truly Muslims but members of the Sunni creed. Otherwise, they are
wholly considered religious outcast. I hope you discern this fact
properly. I furthermore summoned, that conversion to Christianity, is
often affiliated with greed, fame, well, just temporal factors per
say. This editorial has been quite lengthy but I destined to be
thorough and plain at the same time.

Thank you for reading, Mustafa