Amongst Muslims, it is a given that Islam is the religion which concludes and overwrites all others. It is the answer; universal, and timeless. All religions before it were time and people specific, but Islam comes as a religion finale.
Yet if it is also a given that when God created the world everything had already been decided and realized, why wasn’t Islam the first? Why didn’t the answer arrive any earlier? And why are we now left with multiple faiths quarreling together on the very same earth?
Could it be possible that when humans first arrived on earth, things were not “fully realized”? Were humans an experiment, a very sophisticated one, left to unveil its possibilities under the watchful eye of God? And could that be the answer as to why creations have stopped after humans?
Read it all at Aysha's website and leave comments over there. She is an inteligent and thoughtful Muslima and it is refreshing to read her reflections from time to time.
5 comments:
Abu:
I'm sitting by a fire up in the mountains in an old condo watching the snow fall outside... getting ready to go snowshoeing in it! So I checked your blog, then read her post, and many thoughts raced around in my mind about how to respond to her post. I want to ask you: Is it wrong that the first thought I had was to refute the truth claims of Islam as to encourage her to seek Christ? I think it is not the right approach, but is a bent that I have. I do sympathize with the views of others, even though I believe them (in some cases) to be incorrect. However, it's all about the APPROACH itself... which is what I don't have the right answer to. How do you approach such a thoughtful, intelligent, kind, young Muslim woman in such a way that they might consider that Islam is in fact false so that their relationship with God can begin to be restored?
Thank you Abu-Daud for reading and linking to my post!
As to Fletcher, thank you as well! Please feel free to say what you are thinking exactly. I am truly open to all understandings and interpretations, and I would love to hear what you think.
Hi Fletcher, glad you are enjoying some peace and rest :-)
As Aysha herself intimates, the best place to start is with thought. By this I mean asking hard questions in a kind and gentle way with a view of serving that person in his or her journey towards the light of God.
I realize that may sound kind of fuffy, but as you well know I am not fuffy when it comes to salvation and I certainly believe that some, quite possibly most, will be sent to hell for all eternity.
What I am saying is that we should listen to the person's story: where is she from? What does she do? How does she think about herself as an individual/member of her community? And so on. And then, once you have a good insight into who this person is, you pose the right question at the right time and pray for a fruitful conversation that will be edifying and perhaps challenging for both of you.
If that is not clear, and blogs are not the best instruments for clarity, call me and we'll talk.
Blessed Advent.
Your critique of Islam could be equally applied to Christianity. When God created Adam and Eve, why didn't he just create them as fallen. If everything was fore ordained, he knew they would fail anyways.
It's a bit of a weak argument for attacking another religion.
Hi Andrew, I'm not sure who you are addressing. Whose attack on Islam?
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