The Testimony of Truth:
The “Dalai Lama” is considered the Pope of the Buddhists, so to speak, just as Francis is the Pope of the Christians. His word is heard not only in Tibet, but throughout the Buddhist world.
This religious leader believes that the specificity of Islam that distinguishes it from others lies in the very strong relationship that binds the Muslim to his Lord. The divine transcendence is accompanied by God’s closeness to the believer, as the Qur’anic verse says:
Indeed We have created man, and We know whatever thoughts his inner self develops, and We are closer to him than (his) jugular vein. (Qaf:16)
Thus, God is near and far at the same time. Islam requires its adherents to believe in the infinite and eternal nature of God. Every depiction of God is forbidden, because that encourages the worship of idols, which Islam absolutely forbids.
Therefore there are no pictures in Muslim places of worship. One of the features of this religion is that the Muslim completely surrenders himself to the Divine Will and submits to it without discussion. Hence the word “Islam”.
But the important thing about Islam that caught the attention of the “Dalai Lama” is the emphasis in the Holy Qur’an on mercy and tolerance. He was surprised that every Surat of the Qur’an starts with this verse: “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
However, the current image of this religion is that it is a religion of cruelty, violence and terror! Why?
Before the “Dalai Lama” answers this question, we note that he stops at Surat Al-Fatihah( the opening); even mentions it fully translated. He expresses his admiration for the words “The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful” being mentioned more than once.
The “Dalai Lama” stops at this point more than others because the concept of pity or compassion is the main value in the Buddhist religion to which he belongs. A religion that calls for compassion and mercy for people and creatures can only be a great religion as he said.
From here came the secret of his admiration for Islam, his surprise and astonishment when he got to know it for the first time.
He believed that it was a religion of force, violence, beating and killing, so he discovers the exact opposite, and says that he only discovered Islam late, and he was surprised by what he discovered and admired him most.
His first visit to an Arab Muslim country took place in 2005, when he was welcomed with open arms in Jordan. He was impressed by the call to prayer, which is very loud from the mosques.
On one occasion, a Muslim scholar told him: “He who kills an innocent person cannot be a true Muslim. Killing an innocent soul is totally forbidden in the Qur’an. As the noble verse in Surat Al-Ma’idah says:
… whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption [done] in the land – it is as if he had slain mankind entirely. And whoever saves one – it is as if he had saved mankind entirely. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, [even] after that, throughout the land, were transgressors. (Al-Maida:32)
The “Dalai Lama” says that it is the strict literal interpretation of the relatively few verses in the Qur’an that deludes people that Islam is an exclusively violent religion.
The Ultimate Truth:
During my conversation with a Buddhist regarding the speech of “Dalai,” he said:
The Dalai said:
“Oh people, listen and be aware. There is no one truth in the world, but several facts and religions.”
The Dalai added:
“All religions forbid murder, lying, theft, gossip and vice, and call for noble morals. Consequently, there is a great common moral core among all religions, regardless of their rites, rituals and beliefs”.
Then the Buddhist added:
I support the Dalai and say all religions are true and there is no absolute truth.
I said:
Are you absolutely sure of that?
He said: Yes.
I said to him:
You have now made an absolute statement – and this in itself confirms the existence of the absolute.
He said:
The absence of an absolute truth is the only truth. A person can believe what he likes as long as he does not impose his opinions on others. There is no absolute meaning, but rather an imposed meaning.
I said:
How can someone who does not believe in a truth or in any absolute, and does not have a reference, pass a judgment on something else?
Your statement itself is a belief about what is right and wrong, and you try to impose it on others, you adopt a standard of behavior and force everyone to abide by it, thereby violating the thing that you claim to hold – a self-contradictory position.
He said:
Tolerance is the only absolute, and accordingly intolerance is the only evil. The insistence by you Muslims that your belief is the absolute truth is considered against tolerance, and is even considered the greatest crime.
I said:
Tolerance is respecting the freedom of choice that God has given to all, fairness to a non-Muslim in dealing with him justly, and not underestimating his right.
On the other hand, tolerance is not in recognizing the wrong behavior itself and accepting it as right.
The existence of various theories and convictions among people does not mean that there is no a single absulute truth.
I also said:
Before the discovery of the tallest mountain in the world “Mount Everest” , what was the tallest mountain in the world?
He said:
The answer depends on each person’s information, culture and environment.
I said:
Your answer is not logical. People’s ignorance of a particular piece of information or their conviction of a particular concept does not change the fact that there is a true, original, unaltered information that does not change.
“The mount Everest” is the tallest in the world, even if this information was discovered recently, and even if all humans are ignorant of it.
No matter how many peoples’ concepts and perceptions of the means of transportation that I use daily, it does not negate the fact that I own a black car. if the whole world believes that my car is red, this belief does not make it red, there is one fact that it is a black car.
The correct is clear, even if the entire world agrees on its invalidity, and the error is as clear as the sun, even if all human beings acknowledge its validity.
Some take this view simply because they want to abdicate responsibility for their actions. The existence of an absolute truth means the inevitability of the existence of absolute principles of right and wrong; therefore the existence of a responsibility towards these principles. This responsibility is what they avoid.
The truth is absolute, and the religion is one, which is:
- Acknowledgment of the universe Creatot Who has no son or partner.
- The Creator is not embodied in the form of a human or animal.
- He is not united with His creatures.
- Communicating with this Creator should be directly and not through a saint or priest.
- There is a day of Judgment when the Creator will hold people accountable for their deeds.
The Buddhist said:
Why is the absolute truth with Muslims? Why is the absulute truth not with the Hindu who says that the Creator is embodied in Krishna, or with the Christian who says that the Creator is embodied in Christ?
I said to him:
Because the Muslim has the “common terms” between all, that is the belief in the Creator, which is a fact that is accepted by all, even if they deny.
Everyone resorts to the Creator (the power in heavens) in adversity, including atheists and Buddhists.
As for the incarnation of God, it is an illogical concept that does not befit the majesty of the Creator. The incarnation of God is a mystery as the believers in it admit, while the religion of God should have no mysteries in it.
God has the ideal:
The player of electronic games does not become a part of the game inside his phone.
The Creator controls everything from outside the universe. He created time and space for us humans.
Most of the Indian and Chinese religions are based on the teachings of their founders. They do not claim to follow direct revelation.
Hinduism is not known to have a founder as it is a traditional, inherited philosophy.
- “Buddhism” goes back to “Sdarta Guatama”.
- “Jainism” to “Mahavira”.
- “Sikhism” to “Guru Nanak”,
- “Confucianism” to “Confucius”.
- “Hypothalamus” to “Lao Tse”.
Islam is a religion based on a revelation.
Tell them: “I am not the first of the Messengers; and I do not know what shall be done with me or with you. I follow only what is revealed to me, and I am nothing but a plain warner. ( Al-Ahqaf:9)
All previous religions are based on the worship of more than one deity, while Islam is distinguished by the worship of the One and Only Creator.
The pure monotheistic view in Islam is what separates it from these religions.
There is no trinity or divinity for a prophet. Other races are not required to search for a god of their own. There is no good or evil god like in Zoroastrianism.
The questioner said:
What is Islam’s interpretation of human suffering?
I said:
Whenever you encounter evil, you must ask yourself the basic existential question:
Why are we here?
God created us to test us and afflict us.
He gave us the freedom to choose between good and evil.
What we encounter in life; crises, injustice, affliction, disease and poverty is one of two paths:
- Either way to increase closeness to God.
- Or a path to infidelity and atheism.
You have to choose then.
He said:
Is there an absolute justice?
I daid:
Yes, in the hereafter, not in this world.
This world is not a paradise, so how can the criminal and the wicked deserve it? As we see in our lives, most people are criminals.
The Creator will not reward the criminal for his crimes. The Creator has decreed Paradise for those who deserve it. Because not everyone deserves it, and humans have no right to object to any evil, disease, or problem that afflicts it.
A person must ask himself, before objecting to any evil, if he wanted this world as paradise, so what did he do in order to deserve it?
Paradise will be won later by those who deserve it, as the matter is nothing but a process of sorting out the ranks and levels of people. The Creator did not exclude anyone from affliction, even the prophets.
This world is a short time in our real long life journey.
We may see part of justice in this world, but absolute justice will be in the hereafter only.
I also told him:
By looking closely at the beliefs of peoples, we discover that the majority of nations that have religious heritage and various religious symbols still believe in the existence of a Creator of the universe, who they resort to in times of adversity. We find that humans are instinctive to search for absolute justice and the inevitability of a day of reckoning for human beings to be held accountable for their actions.
Every child is born sinless. Everyone can call upon their Creator without any intermediary. If the child is left alone without parents or any teachings, he will grow up worshipping the Creator alone. At the age of puberty, he will be responsible for his actions and he has a choice to remain monotheist worshiping his Creator alone, or to change his natural religion and take a wrong path by praying to God through an intermediary (Jesus, Mary, Buddha, Idols, Muhammad… etc.).
The Creator said:
Say: “O people of the Scripture: Come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but Allah the same, and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides Allah.” Then, if they turn away, say: “Bear witness that we are Muslims.” (Al-Imran:64)
I remember a nice comment from an elderly German when I explained to him the definition of Islam. He said to me:
This is a new religion that I have not heard of before. It is logical and can unite humanity. I live among Muslims but I have never understood Islam in this way.
This is the old, new and eternal world religion from the time of Adam, peace be upon him, until God inherited the earth and those on it.
This Religion is:
Believing in God (the Creator), that He has no partner or son. He does not incarnate in any of His creations or any idol. He created Prophet Jesus without a father, as He created Prophet Adam without a father or mother, as He creates but begets not. Also, humans need to have a direct connection with Him, not through any idol, priest, saint, grave, Prophet, or a family member of any Prophet.
All human beings must also believe in all the prophets from Adam to Muhammad, including Moses and Christ, may the blessings of God be upon them all.
If this religion was applied by all people, mankind would have united.
A Muslim respects the freedom to choose the religion. The Muslim does not oppress the non – Muslim or steal him, and does not diminish his right, but he does not recognize his incorrect religion as being a true religion, because the true religion is one, and the Creator is one.
If some Muslims today fail to follow the teachings of their great religion, and did not take knowledge in a correct way, this is due to their human weakness.
The Muslims’ failure to convey the correct message of Islam, or their bad treatment of non-Muslims, or their scientific backwardness after they were the pioneers of material science and its founders, this does not change the fact that the religion of Muslims is correct.
Islam is a perfect religion, but Muslims are not perfect.
The word “Allah” was mentioned in the earlier version of the Old Testament 89 times. (Refer to Genesis 2:4, Book of Daniel 6:20 Hebrew and Arabic Bible). The word ‘Allah’ appears in the original Sanskrit text. (Reg Veda – Book 2 hymn 1, Verse 11).
The reference of God to Himself as WE or US in many verses of the Qur’an denotes Grandeur and Power in Arabic. In the English language this is known as the royal WE, where a plural pronoun is used to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch. For the avoidance of doubt, the Qur’an has consistently reminded us of the SINGULAR pronoun in reference to God, when called upon by His servants.
A Universal Religion
Faten Sabri