An explanation for those who ponder why Allah simply "let the Jews and Christians get it wrong"

Submitted by Shahriar (United States), Oct 6, 2007 at 22:54

(For those who simply want to read about what I addressed in my Title, go to the bottom.)

I have been reading your posts, dhimmi no more, for some time before I made my first post. To be frank, I was not expecting such harsh replies. Instead of engaging in polemics (that you say I as a Muslim is guilty of), I wanted to clarify a few missunderstood pionts.

"Our dear Shahriar tells us that he is here to have a dialog with us infidels but we should be aware that our dear Shahriar tell us that the Bible is nothing but pornography and it is corrupted, but he does not tell the why and the where or by whom."

First of all, I am not saying that the Bible is pornographic in nature, only that if WE APPLY THE UNSCRUPULOUS METHODS that many apply to assess certain Quranic passages, then evil can be deduced from other scriptures as well. I should have worded my thoughts more carefully and accurately, as of course the way I said it was insensitive and wrong.

Pious Muslims are wary of condemning the Bible because its source, according to the Quran, is the same one God. I know you feel Karen Armstrong is an Islamic apologist...nevertheless she says there is more violence in the Bible than there is in the Quran: "There is far more violence in the Bible than in the Qur'an; the idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the Crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam. "

http://www.islamicamagazine.com/Issue-20/Divisions-in-our-world-are-not-the-result-of-religion.html

Here is my point in case if it wasn't apparent: the Quran and the Bible as religious scriptures are intended to be studied and internalized as a whole. Their philosophies will not be apparent to the non-believer of their respective faith. This is why interfaith dialogue is so difficult, because for one to truly understand the two scrptures will require them to be a believer of both!

As to whether the Bible is corrupted by human writers, it is a personal opinion deduced from many findings which I will not get into here as I don't want to start this debate. Google searches will simply show you what evidence says: you may start with this (skip the opening): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpV4YlnnPaY "It seems that our dear Shahriar is not aware of the blatant pornography (eg: story of Joseph in the Qur'an) in the Qur'an and I'm not even including the bogus hadith here (but I love the story where Muhammad would have sex with his 23 wives and concubines in one night and all told in loving details)."

I have read the Sura (12), Joseph -- it was the sura that inspired Yusuf Islam when he converted, according to a documentary made about his transition to Islam for VH1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcgCdn8I8kU go to time 12:20 to see the significance of that sura in his life). As to the Hadith you are refering to, I would like to see the reference to it. I find it hard to believe simply because history says that the Prophet (pbuh) did not have more than 13 wives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad's_marriages) -- but I will not reject its authenticity if the evidence is reliable.

Do remember that Hadith are written by people, and so carry a lot less weight than the Divine Scripture in religious practice. "Did it ever cross your mind why would the Jews and Christians corrupt the Bible? Or where is that real Injiil and Turah? How come they just disappeared? and if your Allah is really omnipotent why did he make his own word (the Injiil and the Turah that is) disappear? Unless your Allah is not a real God or he is not omnipotent! So which one is it?"

Why/how the Jews and Christians would corrupt their scriptures was the reason why I got into Islam in the first place. As I have mentioned, I have done some studying as to why these people, whom were favored in the Quran as "People of the Book," would "get it all wrong." Again, there is much scholarship/speculation that has been done in this, and -as you have gleefully noted- I deliberately abstained from getting into this sensitive debate in my previous post. Instead, I will focus in the concept of Free Will in Islam (similar to the other Abrhamic faith), which may shed light as to why God "let" the original "injeel and Torah disappear." May skim these to get an overview:

http://cityofbrass.blogspot.com/2003/01/free-will-and-islam.html http://www.al-islam.org/GodAttributes/free.htm

If God simply wanted humans to submit to his will without effort, then what is the piont of Angels (who worship him without any sense of free will)? Indeed it was becuase of the fact that Adam sinned and REPENTED to God (ie: exercised his unique endowment of free will as a human soul) that humans were sent to this world (not angels).

Everything is in God's control, even tragic events in our history. When people say "why did God let...(etc)," they are missing the fact that God makes as morally responsible of whatever action we take as a result of these events. Therefore, God has sent down Messages (scriptures) to Prophets acting as his Messengers. If we abuse our free will, we will feel the consequences from Him -- if not in this life, then in the Hereafter. So, you see, God WILL NOT keep people from corrupting his messages.

Rather, he would prefer to give us guidance in the form of Messages. The Muslims community is afflicted with so much sin that we have been feeling His punishment. It is Allah's will that 12 million Jews have contributed 159 nobel prizes while 1.3 billion Muslims have only 9. It is HIS WILL that Bush is engaging war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is His will that Muslim societies are failing econimically and suffering from so much war and aggression. So you ask, why would God do such a thing to its own followers and let the "infidels" (used sarcastically here) prosper? Same reason why God will let so many greedy, corrupt people rule over us (there is a verse in the Quran about this -- will post the reference if I find it).

It is my belief that such trends (in a society kept delicately in balance between the Good and the Evil) give believing Muslims opportunities to practice our unique endowments as creations with free will - virtue, wisdom, knowledge, and material self-contentment. All of these endowments come together when we repent from our sins -- a uniquely human attribute. And this repentence calls God to exercise His unique attribute: divine mercy and forgiveness.

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