Revert or Convert??

Al-hamdu-lillah, having been attracted gradually
to Islam over the last few years, I recently
embraced Islam officially by becoming a Muslim.

Now, do I call myself a Revert or a Convert??
Good question!

More and more the term revert is used and the
logic is that Islam is the natural religion for any
person to have as any baby is by definition pure
and innocent and "born upon the fitrah" so, in
effect, we are all born as Muslims although many
"opt out" by embracing other belief systems, or
are forcibly "opted out" by parents who follow
another religion, and some grow up to become
declared atheists.
By this definition, anyone choosing in later life to
consciously adopt Islam should be called a revert
because that person, whether aware of it or not,
has been there before and is returning home,
so to speak.

A convert, on the other hand, is someone who
chooses to adopt a belief system which he or
she has never had before, for example a non-
Christian deciding to become a Christian, and
therefore converts from whatever that person
was before and to Christianity.

All well and good, but it is confusing for most
people, especially non-Muslims, to understand
how someone who has only now technically
become a Muslim can be referred to as a revert,
for the simple reason that it implies going back
to something they do not know you ever were,
or could have been, as a baby exercises no
freedom of action in such matters.

Everyday English is full of words starting with re
which all imply going back, either to a former
state or to a former point -
return, retrieve, revolve, resume, rearrange
reappear, reconsider reaction etc,
I am sure you get my drift, as they say.

So what to do?
Well, for the time being, in order to minimise
confusion for non-Muslims that I come into
contact with (and this is a kind of dawah if you
look at it the right way!), I shall therefore refer
to myself as a convert to Islam, and I hope that
all my Brothers and Sisters in the deen will
forgive me!

And, by the way, should anyone ask me:
Are you a Sunni or a Shia?
I shall answer: >>> I am a Muslim!

Favourite QURAN Verses

bismillah ar rahmaani ar raheem

All quotes here from the English interpretation
by N.J. Dawood 1999 (Penguin Books)

*

فمن يرد الله ان يهديه يشرح صدره للاسلام

If God intends to guide a man,
He opens his bosom to Islam (6:125)

*

You cannot guide whomever you please:
it is God who guides whom He will.
He best knows those
who yield to guidance (28:56)

This is but an admonition to all men:
to those among you
that have the will to be upright.
Yet you cannot choose,
except by the will of God,
Lord of the Universe (81:27-29)

Are they seeking a religion other than God's,
when every soul in the heavens and the earth
has submitted to Him,
willingly or by compulsion?
To Him shall they return (3:83)

We will show them Our signs
in all the regions of the earth
and in their own souls,
until they clearly see that this is the truth (41:53)

The day will surely come
when those who disbelieve
will wish that they were muslims.
Let them feast and make merry;
and let their hopes beguile them.
They shall learn (15:2-3)

Are the disbelievers unaware
that the heavens and the earth
were but one solid mass which We tore asunder,
and that We made every living thing from water?
Will they not have faith? (21:30)

It was not in jest that We created the heavens
and the earth and all that lies between them.
We created them to reveal the truth.
But of this most men
have no knowledge (44:38-39)

We created you:
will you not believe then in Our power? (56:57)

Men are tempted
by the lure of women and offspring,
of hoarded treasures of gold and silver,
of splendid horses, cattle, and plantations.
These are the enjoyments of this life,
but far better is the return to God (3:14)

We have set forth for men in this Quran
all manner of arguments,
yet most of them persist in unbelief.
They say: 'We will not believe in you
until you make a spring
gush from the earth before our very eyes,
or cause rivers to flow
in a grove of palms and vines;
until you cause the sky to fall upon us in pieces,
as you have threatened to do,
or bring down God and the angels in our midst;
until you build a house of gold,
or ascend to heaven:
nor will we believe in your ascent
until you have sent down for us
a book which we can read'.
Say: 'Glory be to my Lord!
Am I not but an emissary,
made of flesh and blood?'
Nothing prevents men from having faith
when guidance is revealed to them
but the excuse:
'Can it be that God has sent
a human being as an emissary?'
Say: 'Had the earth been safe enough
for angels to walk on,
We would have sent down to them
an angel from heaven as an emissary' (17:89-95)

And when our judgment has been passed,
Satan will say to them:
'True was the promise which God made you.
I too made you a promise, but did not keep it.
Yet had I no power over you.
I only called you, and you answered me.
Do not now blame me but blame yourselves.
I cannot help you, nor can you help me.
I never believed, as you did,
that I was God's equal' (14:22)

There shall be no compulsion in religion (2:256)

If We abrogate a verse
or cause it to be forgotten,
We will replace it by a better one or one similar.
Did you not know that God
has power over all things? (2:106)

None should visit the mosques of God
except those who believe in God and the Last Day,
attend to their prayers and render the alms levy
and fear none but God.
These shall be rightly guided (9:18)

*

People of the Book,
why do you argue about Abraham
when both the Torah and the Gospel
were not revealed till after him?
Have you no sense? (3:65)

Abraham was neither Jew nor Christian.
He was an upright man,
one who submitted to God (3:67)

He has ordained for you the faith
which He enjoined on Noah,
and which We have revealed to you;
which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses,
and Jesus, saying:
'Observe the Faith and do not
divide yourselves into factions' (42:13)

Say: 'We believe in God
and that which has been revealed to us;
in what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael,
Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes;
to Moses and Jesus
and the other prophets by their Lord.
We make no distinction among any of them,
and to Him we submit' (2:136)

'Do you claim that Abraham, Ishmael,
Isaac, Jacob, and the tribes,
were all Jews or Christians?'
Say: 'Who knows better, you or God?' (2:140)

And who has a nobler religion
than he who submits to God, does what is right,
and follows the faith of saintly Abraham,
whom God chose to be His friend? (4:125)

Thus God, the Mighty One, the Wise One,
inspires you as He inspired
others before you (42:3)

We inspired all the apostles We sent before you,
saying: 'There is no god but Me.
Therefore serve Me' (21:25)

They have no true notion of God's glory,
those that say:
'God has never revealed anything to a mortal'.
Say: 'Who, then, revealed the Scriptures
which Moses brought down,
a light and a guide for mankind?' .....
Say: 'God!'
Then leave them to amuse themselves
with foolish chatter (6:91)

Say: 'I do not tell you that I possess
God's treasures or know what is hidden,
nor do I claim to be an angel.
I follow only that which is revealed to me (6:50)

Nothing is said to you that has not been said
to other apostles before you (41:43)

If they disbelieve you, say:
'My deeds are mine and your deeds are yours.
You are not accountable for my actions,
nor am I accountable for what you do' (10:41)

He [Muhammad] is the Apostle of God
and the Seal of the Prophets.
Surely God has knowledge of all things (33:40)

*

The Jews say the Christians are misguided,
and the Christians say
it is the Jews who are misguided.
Yet they both read the Scriptures.
And the ignorant say the same of both.
God will on the Day of Resurrection
judge their disputes (2:113)

You will please neither the Jews
nor the Christians
unless you follow their faith.
Say: 'God's guidance
is the only guidance' (2:120)

They declare:
'None shall enter Paradise
but Jews and Christians'.
Such are their wishful fancies (2:111)

The Jews and the Christians say:
'We are the children of God and His loved ones'.
Say: 'Why then does He punish you for your sins?
Surely you are mortals of His own creation' (5:18)

Believers, take neither the Jews
nor the Christians for your friends.
They are friends with one another.
Whoever of you seeks their friendship
shall become one of their number (5:51)

*

It is unlawful for a believer
to kill another believer,
accidents excepted (4:92)

He that kills a believer by design
shall burn in Hell forever (4:93)

*

A voice cried out:
'Earth, swallow up your waters.
Heaven, cease your rain!'
The floods abated, and His will was done.
The ark came to rest upon Al-Judi,
and a voice declared:
'Gone are the evil-doers' (11:44)

It is He that has made the night
a mantle for you, and sleep a rest.
He makes each day a resurrection (25:47)

Do not walk proudly on the earth.
You cannot split the earth,
nor can you rival the mountains in stature (17:37)

He that does good does it for his own soul;
and he that commits evil does so at his own peril.
Your Lord is never unjust to His servants (41:46)

*

God! There is no god but Him,
the Living, the Ever-existent One (3:2)

He is God, the Creator,
the Originator, the Modeller.
His are the most gracious names.
All that is in the heavens and the earth
gives glory to Him.
He is the Mighty, the Wise One (59:24)

He has the keys of all that is hidden:
none knows them but He.
He has knowledge of all that land
and sea contain:
every leaf that falls is known to Him.
There is no grain
in the darkest bowels of the earth,
nor anything green or sear,
but is recorded in a glorious Book.
It is He that claims you back by night,
knowing what you have done by day,
and then rouses you up
to fulfil your allotted span of life.
Then to Him shall you return,
and He will then declare to you
all that you have done (6:59-60)

It is God who splits the seed and the fruit-stone.
He brings forth the living from the dead
and the dead from the living.
Such is God.
How then can you turn away? (6:95)

*

The seven heavens, the earth,
and all who dwell in them give glory to Him.
All creatures celebrate His praises (17:44)

Do you not see that those
in the heavens and the earth,
the sun and the moon and the stars,
the mountains and the trees, the beasts,
and countless men -
all do homage to God? (22:18)

Do you not see how God is praised
by those in the heavens and those on earth?
The very birds praise Him as they wing their way.
He notes the prayers and praises
of all his creatures;
God has knowledge of all their actions (24:41)

It is the Merciful
who has taught the Quran.
He created man
and taught him articulate speech.
The sun and the moon
pursue their ordered course.
The plants and the trees
bow down in adoration.
He raised the heaven on high
and set the balance of all things,
that you might not
transgress that balance (55:2-8)

All that is in the heavens and the earth
gives glory to God.
He is the Mighty, the Wise One.
It is He that has sovereignty
over the heavens and the earth.
He ordains life and death, and
has power over all things.
He is the First and the Last,
the Visible and the Unseen.
He has knowledge of all things (57:1-3)

If you render Him no thanks,
know that God does not need you.
Yet the ingratitude of His servants
does not please Him.
If you are thankful,
your thanks will please Him (39:7)

And Moses said:
'If you and all who dwell on earth
prove thankless, He does not need your thanks,
though He deserves your praise' (14:8)

Say: 'It is He who has brought you into being,
and given you ears and eyes and hearts.
Yet you are seldom thankful' (67:23)

*

All this is written in previous scriptures;
the scriptures of Abraham and Moses (87:18-19)

We have revealed the Torah,
in which there is guidance and light.
By it the prophets who submitted to God
judged the Jews (5:44)

After them We sent forth Jesus son of Mary,
confirming the Torah already revealed,
and gave him the Gospel,
in which there is guidance and light,
corroborating what was revealed
before it in the Torah:
a guide and an admonition
to the righteous (5:46)

He has revealed to you the Book with the Truth,
confirming the scriptures which preceded it;
for He has already revealed the Torah
and the Gospel for the guidance of mankind,
and the distinction between right and wrong (3:3)

We have divided the Quran
into sections so that you may recite it
to the people with deliberation.
We have imparted it
by gradual revelation (17:106)

And to you We have revealed
the Book with the truth.
It confirms the Scriptures which came before it
and stands as a guardian over them (5:48)

*

About prophet Jesus / Isa:

The Jews say Ezra is the son of God,
while the Christians say the Messiah
is the son of God.
Such are their assertions,
by which they imitate the infidels of old.
God confound them!
How perverse they are! (9:30)

They make of their clerics and their monks,
and of the Messiah, the son of Mary,
Lords besides God;
though they were ordered to serve one God only.
There is no God but Him.
Exalted be He
above those they deify besides Him! (9:31)

Unbelievers are those who declare:
'God is the Messiah, the son of Mary'.
Say: 'Who could prevent God,
if He so willed,
from destroying the Messiah,
the son of Mary, his mother,
and all the people of the earth?' (5:17)

Unbelievers are those that say:
'God is the Messiah, the son of Mary'.
For the Messiah himself said:
'Children of Israel, serve God,
my Lord and your Lord' (5:72)

Unbelievers are those that say:
'God is one of three'.
There is but one God (5:73)

The Messiah, the son of Mary,
was no more than an apostle:
other apostles passed away before him.
His mother was a saintly woman.
They both ate earthly food (5:75)

No mortal whom God has given the Scriptures
and whom He has endowed with judgment
and prophethood would say to men:
'Worship me instead of God'.
But rather: 'Be devoted servants of God, for you
have taught and studied the Scriptures' (3:79)

They denied the truth
and uttered a monstrous falsehood against Mary.
They declared:
'We have put to death the Messiah,
Jesus son of Mary, the apostle of God'.
They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him,
but they thought they did (4:156-157)

People of the Book,
do not transgress the bounds of your religion.
Speak nothing but the truth about God.
The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary,
was no more than God's apostle
and His Word which He cast to Mary:
a spirit from Him.
So believe in God and His apostles
and do not say: 'Three'.
Forbear, and it shall be better for you.
God is but one God.
God forbid that He should have a son! (4:171)

Then God will say:
'Jesus son of Mary,
did you ever say to mankind:
'Worship me and my mother
as gods besides God' ?'.
'Glory be to You', he will answer,
'I could never have claimed
what I have no right to.
If I had ever said so,
You would have surely known it.
You know what is in my mind,
but I know not what is in Yours.
You alone know what is hidden.
I told them only what
You bade me. I said:
'Serve God, my Lord and your Lord' (5:116-117)

They say:
'God has begotten a son'.
God forbid! Self-sufficient is He.
His is all that the heavens and the earth contain.
Surely for this you have no sanction.
Would you say of God
what you know not? (10:68)

Such was Jesus son of Mary.
That is the whole truth, which they still doubt.
God forbid that He Himself should beget a son!
When He decrees a thing He need only say:
'Be', and it is (19:34-35)

Those who say:
'The Lord of Mercy has begotten a son',
preach a monstrous falsehood,
at which the very heavens might crack,
the earth split asunder,
and the mountains crumble to dust.
That they should ascribe a son to the Merciful,
when it does not become the Lord of Mercy
to beget one! (19:88-92)

They say:
'The Merciful has begotten children'.
God forbid!
They are but His honoured servants.
They do not speak till He has spoken:
they act by His command.
He knows what is before them
and behind them.
They intercede for none
save those whom He accepts,
and tremble in awe of Him.
Whoever of them declares:
'I am a god besides Him',
We shall requite with Hell.
Thus shall We reward the wrongdoers (21:26-29)

Had it been God's will to adopt a son,
He would have chosen whom He pleased
out of His own Creation.
But God forbid!
He is God, the One, the Almighty (39:4)

Never has God begotten a son,
nor is there any other god besides Him.
Were this otherwise,
each god would govern his own creation,
each holding himself above the other.
Exalted be He above their falsehoods! (23:91)

Creator of the heavens and the earth.
How should He have a son
when He had no consort?
He created all things,
and He has knowledge of all things (6:101)

Say: 'If the Lord of Mercy had a son,
I would be the first to worship him' (43:81)

He was but a mortal whom We favoured
and made an example to the Israelites (43:59)

And of Jesus son of Mary,
who said to the Israelites:
'I am sent forth to you from God
to confirm the Torah already revealed,
and to give news of an apostle
that will come after me
whose name is Ahmad' (61:6)

*

(to be continued, Inshallah...)

DOT-Come Revolution

Yes, the Original One!

The following quote is from the May 2005 issue
of the English popular science magazine Focus:

A reader asks the simple question:
"Did everything come from a tiny dot?".

And the magazine replies:
"According to current cosmological theories, the
whole Universe burst out of a tiny quantum region
around 100 billion billion times smaller than the
width of a proton, known as a "Planck Length".
Why this happened 14 billion years ago is
unknown.
And please don't ask where the dot was:
It gave birth to the very fabric of space and time,
as well as all matter, so the question of "where"
simply has no meaning".

End of answer, end of quote.

Now, is this not remarkably similar to the
description of the creation in the scriptures,
like the opening of Genesis in the Bible:
"In the beginning......"?

Listen to the Quran:
"Are the disbelievers unaware that the heavens
and the earth were but one solid mass which
We tore asunder, and that We made every
living thing from water?
Will they not have faith?" (21:30).

Most scientists are always very quick to distance
themselves from religion or simply ridicule it but
surely the similarities here are so striking as to
rule out mere coincidence?
And so frequently we call something a
coincidence simply because we have failed
to see a connection somewhere.

The biggest difference that is immediately
obvious is that of time:
As I understand it, fundamentalist Christians
believe that the creation took place in 4004 BC,
and the Jews believe it took place in 5508 BC,
whereas, as far as I am aware, Muslims sensibly
do not put a figure on it.

Jacob = Israel

According to Genesis:

First Abraham and Hagar, his Egyptian slave
woman, have Ishmael, the ancestor of all Arabs.

Then Abraham and Sarah, his wife, hitherto
barren, have Isaac.

Isaac and Rebecca then have the twins
Esau and Jacob.

Jacob (which apparently means: the supplanter!)
has his name changed to Israel (which apparently
means: he who has fought with God and won!)
after his mysterious nightly wrestling match with
an unknown and equally mysterious man, in
which Jacob is injured but wins, and it is this
man who, refusing to give his own name but,
before he disappears towards dawn, tells Jacob
that his name shall henceforth be Israel
(Genesis, 32:24-30).

By applying normal logic, it follows that Jacob's
mysterious opponent must have been God.

Now, if you read all there is about Jacob=Israel,
you will find that his whole life is a catalogue of
betrayal, treachery, deceit, dishonesty, double-
dealing, conceit, megalomania even -

This is Genesis 28:20-22:

And Jacob vowed a vow, saying,
"If God will be with me and will keep me in this
way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and
raiment to put on, so that I come again to my
father's house in peace, then shall the LORD
be my God.

And this stone which I have set for a pillar shall
be God's house; and of all that Thou shalt give
me I will surely give a tenth unto Thee."
(Quote from the King James 21st C Bible version)

Yes, really - he is imposing conditions
on the Almighty!!

When I first read this properly and at face value
I could hardly believe it.

The following question is not meant as a joke:
Does this in any way explain the behaviour of
the modern state of Israel???
Explain, not justify -
nothing could justify Israel's behaviour.

I mean, if this is quite literally where they are
coming from, small wonder that the Jews behave
the way they do - like everything else today,
it is because it is in their genes!!!

I find this tale astounding:
This is what the Jews themselves teach their
children of their ancestors, for the first 5 books
of the Bible are simply the 5 Books of Moses,
the Torah (The Law) translated from the ancient
Hebrew originals.

As far as I know, this is the only exception to the
rule that history is always written in such a way
as to make the people proud of their past but
surely nobody could truthfully claim to be proud
to be a descendant of such a despicable wretch??

The most incredible aspect is that his many
unforgivable acts are against members of his own
family, even the closest, his brother and father,
and that in a part of the world where then,
as now, your family, your lineage, who you are,
is more important than anything else.

Moses in Denmark

(First posted early 2006)

Yes really!
At the height of the cartoon-controversy, during
an anti-immigration anti-Muslim demonstration
in Denmark's 3rd city Odense, in support of that
now famous/notorious newspaper JyllandsPosten
and its right to publish and the general right to
free speech, a local evangelist preacher by the
name of Moses Hansen, in between shouts of
"Hallelujah!", declared, and I quote, that:
"Allah is a demon and a bloodthirsty god".

So there, now we all know!
What absolute rubbish!

If this and many other idiots would only get
their facts right maybe we could disagree but
still respect each other. As I say elsewhere,
if one cares to read the Quran just once,
it becomes obvious that the god of the Jews,
Yahweh, and the god of the Christians, God,
and the god of the Muslims, Allah,
is one and the same deity.
If you don't believe what I say, go and read the
Quran yourself, my English translation is only
435 pages long so no excuse really and it will
do you good anyway.

Oh yes, the demonstration attracted nearly
25 persons, they were outnumbered about
3 to 1 by the police. The demonstrators were
all waving Danish flags, nothing wrong with that
in itself, but, come to think of it, I know of no
other nation that is so in love with its flag as
Denmark, with the possible exception of America.

So, if Muslims want to hurt the Danes, get some
more of those red and white Dannebrog flags -
and burn them!

One lady was also waving the Israeli flag -
no comment.

Robertson on Sharon

(First posted early 2006)

The American evangelist Pat Robertson's
comment recently that Ariel Sharon
(who suffered a massive stroke on 4 Jan 2006)
was struck down by God in revenge for having
forced through the withdrawal from Gaza, which
to evangelists like Robertson is holy Jewish land
until the end of time, is strikingly revealing about
religion in America today.

The Christian Right has massive political
influence in America and their leaders are close
to the Bush administration. Millions and millions
of Americans who call themselves born-again
Christians or evangelicals helped to secure a
second term for Bush. Also, Robertson has
recently openly called for America to assassinate
Venezuela's democratically elected leader Hugo
Chavez, just because he strongly dislikes the US
and has the courage to speak his mind about it.

What is the difference between this and the Fatwa
issued by the late Ayatollah Khomeini against
Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses
which, in parts at least, is indisputably deeply
offensive to Islam??

The mindset displayed by Robertson & Co is just
as intransigent fundamentalist as their Muslim
counterparts around the world, which the
evangelicals so loathe and hate.
Maybe a case of: It takes one to know one?

West Knows Little of Islam

Again and again I am amazed and increasingly
disturbed by the near-total lack of knowledge
of Islam in the West and what little "knowledge"
there is usually turns out to be largely or
completely false.
Most would assume that the opposite would also
be the case, that is, that the Muslim world would
be largely ignorant of Judaism and Christianity.
Not so!

And the reason is simple:
Anyone, Muslim or non-Muslim, who has studied
the Quran or just read it superficially or received
instruction at a basic level, knows something
about Christianity and Judaism too.

Throughout the Quran there are a great many
references to the prophets who came before
Muhammad (pbuh) and all those references are
universally respectful.

To make that clear:
Islam has absolutely no problem with the
great prophet of the Jews, Moses, and the
great prophet of the Christians, Jesus.
Both are revered -but not worshipped!- by Islam
as major prophets in a very long line of prophets,
starting with Adam, and including Enoch (Idriss),
Noah (Nuh), Abraham (Ibrahim), Ishmael, Isaac
(Ishaq), Jacob=Israel (Yacoub), Moses (Musa),
Aaron (Harun), Joshua, Ezekiel, David (Dawuud),
Solomon (Suleyman), Jesus (Isa) all the way to
Muhammad (pbuh) whom the Quran states
explicitly is the last prophet ("He is the apostle
of God and the Seal of the Prophets" 33:40).

By the way, neither is Muhammad (pbuh)
worshipped in Islam, he is revered, yes of course,
and understandably more so than all the other
prophets, but not worshipped -
in Islam worship is due only to the Creator: Allah.

However, although Islam has nothing but respect
and admiration for Moses and Jesus, Islam has
serious problems with the mosaic faith Judaism
and with Christianity.
Put simply, the Quran -and therefore Islam-
accuses the Jews of suppressing parts of and
generally corrupting the scriptures revealed
by their god Yahweh to their prophet Moses,
and Islam's only real problem with Christianity
is that the Christians worship Jesus as the son
of their god God, which Islam finds nonsensical,
irrational, illogical, impossible, preposterous,
abhorrent, blasphemous etc etc etc
(and with all of which I personally agree).

Incidentally, Jesus is never in the Quran referred
to as Christ but as Jesus and usually "Jesus, son
of Mary" (as opposed to "Jesus, son of God") and
occasionally as the Messiah.
Ultimately, Messiah and Christ mean the very
same thing: the anointed, that is, the King.

Moses, we are asked to believe,
lived around 1350 BC.

Jesus, we are asked to believe,
lived from around 6 BC to around 30 AD.

Muhammad (pbuh) lived from around
570 AD to 632 AD.

If we accept the above dates for Moses and
Jesus it will be seen that Islam is c 2000 years
younger than Judaism and c 600 years younger
than Christianity.

Looked at another way,
Judaism is now c 3350 years old,
Christianity is c 2000
and Islam is 1427.

Interestingly, Islam is therefore now about the
same age as Christianity was when Martin Luther
appeared (1483 - 1546 AD).
This is purely an observation.

I recommend to all Jews and all Christians,
and everybody else for that matter, to read the
Quran with an open mind - it will in no way harm
you and may well do you a lot of good and you
cannot help but learn something from it and not
only about Islam. Go on, do it!

From the Quran you will learn, at the very least,
that it is absolutely clear that all the scriptures
through the ages have been revealed to selected
persons (apostles - messengers - prophets)
by one and the same divinity - god - life-force -
Creator (which to me personally makes sense),
in other words, whatever else Jews, Christians
and Muslims can find to argue about, there must
be total agreement that their god is not only one
god but one and the same god, that is:
Yahweh = God = Allah.

I suspect that comes as a complete surprise and
maybe a shock to most people, Jews, Christians,
whatever - but not to Muslims.

There is another way in which Jews, Christians
and Muslims, whether they like it or not, are
inextricably linked:
The Arabic word Islam means submission, in the
sense: submission to the will of the Creator, and
a Muslim is therefore a person, anyone, anywhere,
any time, who does that.
It is inconceivable that a person who did not
submit to the Creator could be a prophet and it
therefore follows that all prophets who ever lived
have effectively been Muslims, whatever names
they may have given themselves or their Creator,
or been given by their contemporaries and history.

And by the way, the name for the Creator in
Islam was neither revealed to Muhammad (pbuh)
nor chosen by him. Allah was the name for the
chief Semitic deity long before him so was
naturally adopted.

Also, Arabic-speaking Christians call god Allah,
and the word is closely related to one Hebrew/
Aramaic word for god, Elohim.

There is more that unites than divides!

Men and Women

In the West there is frequent mention of the
status of women in the Islamic world, invariably
in a way which makes it clear that "we" are in no
doubt that "our" system is better and somehow
more civilised.

Is Islam hostile to women??
It is true that according to the Quran men have
a status above women, most famously expressed
in Surah 4 Verse 34:
"Men have authority over women because God
has made the one superior to the other..."
and later on in the same verse we read:
"Good women are obedient."
and:
"As for those from whom you fear disobedience,
admonish them, forsake them in beds apart,
and beat them.".

So there, "we" are right, you may think.
Well, all Jews and Christians who live according
to their scriptures must agree with the above,
at least in principle. Why?
Because in the Bible we read, right up front in
the very first book, Genesis (2:18-20), that God,
having created Adam, realised that Adam was
unhappy being alone and was in need of
"a suitable companion to help him" so God
obligingly created Eve as "a suitable companion
to help him".
Twice in those three verses we read this
(or words to that effect, depending on which of
the many versions of the Bible you read), almost
as if to remove any doubt that men are superior
to women.
You will agree that there is no fundamental
difference here. Judaism and Christianity are
therefore in agreement with Islam on this point,
so why only criticise Islam?

I say Judaism and Christianity above.
Judaism, too, by implication because the holy
book of the Jews, the Torah (the Law), contains
the ancient Hebrew originals of the 5 first
books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, collectively
known as the Pentateuch, and traditionally
attributed to Moses.

Assuming that the Bible translations are just
reasonably close to the original in these few
verses, we may say that the 2 faiths agree
on this point.
It would interest me greatly what an exact
literal translation from the hebrew would show.

The reasons why Islam is being singled out
are twofold and obvious:

- Because Western society has separated state
from religion and there is generally a lack of
interest in and knowledge of even "your own"
religion in many Western countries today.

- Because of the general witchhunt against all
things Islamic which has so sadly been a major
force (but NOT for good!) in recent years.
It seems that anything goes if it helps to discredit
or ridicule or demonise Muslims and their faith.
It should surprise nobody that they react the
way they do.

In a wider context, what about the custom,
widespread even today in poor and rural India,
of simply throwing new-born baby girls away
or having them aborted if you can afford the scan
which reveals the bad news??

Burying unwanted new-born girls alive was
apparently a custom in pre-Islamic Arabia.
There are several clear references in the
Quran that to do this is a monstrous crime
and a grievous sin and no good Muslim
would ever do it.

There are numerous exhortations in the Quran to
honour and respect women in general and your
mother in particular.

Islam recognises the fact that men and women
are totally different complementary creations
and it therefore follows that they have totally
different complementary functions to perform
in this world, whereas the West is not only
ignoring and denying it but actively repressing
and systematically outlawing it.

Having spent time in both societies, I know
which is the more contented and the happier...