How happy I was during a recent conversation I had with some Popes of the Vatican and the delegation accompanying them, regarding promoting coexistence between the followers of different religions.
I remember that I explained in detail the doctrine of Islam, saying:
The religion of Islam is:
- Belief that there is no god but God (the Creator) alone. He has no partner or son. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe and what it contains.
- The Creator created Jesus Christ without a father, and He created Adam without a father or a mother. He creates and does not give birth.
- We have to worship the Creator directly without a pastor or saint, nor through any prophet or any messenger including Jesus Christ or Muhammad, nor from any member of the family of Prophet Muhammad or from any other mediator.
- Humans must believe in the Day of Judgment, where human beings will be held accountable for their actions.
One of them then asked:
So, you do not worship Muhammad?
I said: A Muslim does not worship Prophet Muhammad.
The message of the Prophet Muhammad, to all people is:
- Giving the Creator His right which is to worship Him alone.
- Giving human beings their right to communicate directly with their Creator.
- Giving the Creator’s messengers their right, all of them from Adam to Muhammad, including Jesus Christ and Moses, may peace be upon them, by believing in them, respecting them, and following the message of the last prophet among them, who is Muhammad, peace be upon him.
- Lifting injustice and persecution from the oppressed.
- Getting rid of the abhorrent tribalism, and establishing the principles of brotherhood and equality among human beings.
- Giving women their rights after they suffered in (pre-Islam) the loss of these rights. One of the most important of these rights is the right to life, the right to inheritance, property, marriage, alimony and other rights.
- Giving people their right to choose religion, as peoples in civilizations prior to the mission of Prophet Muhammad were deprived of this right
However, in all cases, we must adhere to the fact that there is one true religion, which is the worship of the One Creator, the One who begets not nor was he begotten. and there is no equal to Him. He who does not come to earth in the form of a person, an animal, an idol, or a stone.
He said: Sure. Of course.
I said to them: Do you know what is the meaning of the term Allah?
One of them said: Tell us.
I told them: It is essential for a person to have faith in a deity, whether the belief in the true God or in any false deity. He may call this deity god or name it anything else. His god may be a tree, a star in the sky, a woman, his boss at work, a scientific theory, or even identity in himself, but it is necessary to believe in something that follows it and sanctifies it, along with returning to it in his way of life and may die for it. This is what we call worship. Worshiping the true God frees a person from slavery to others.
And I went on: We find this evident in our reality today. Some people today revere soccer players, for example, and call them God, and believe that the Creator comes in the form of the soccer player himself, as is the case in Argentina.
The Church of Maradona, for example, is a church of a sarcastic religious nature. It was consecrated in the city of Rosario, Argentina, after the Argentine soccer player Diego Maradona, who is considered to be an image of God on earth or God Himself.
Islam says there is no deity worthy of worship except the Creator, Whose attributes are beyond the attributes of human beings. The Creator Who begets not, nor was He begotten. He does not incarnate in a human or an animal form. This faith frees Human beings from any other worship. The doctrine of the incarnation is the basis of paganism, because when people believe in the embodiment of the Creator in any of His creatures, hence, anything can be worshipped.
The Creator tells us that He should be the one and only God in the life of every human being, and this is exactly the meaning of the term “Allah”. Which means the Only True God.
For example: My name is Faten Sabri, from Jordan, and I have three children. If you went back to your country to tell those around you that we had a dialogue with Faten, who is a woman from the state of Egypt and has ten children, then in this case you are talking about another Faten, not the real Faten.
The Creator has the highest ideal. Changing the Creator’s attributes and data makes people believe in a false God, not the true God. The Creator creates and does not give birth. Belief that the Creator gives birth or incarnates in His creatures leads people to attribute human characteristics to the Creator. Hence, they are talking about another god completely who has human characteristics, so the Creator becomes like a creature, so, He will not be considered a god at all.
One of them said: Very nice.
I told them: Every human being will meet the Creator alone.
All human beings will be questioned by the Angel at the moment of his/her death.
Death: is a summons to meet the King of Kings.
Each person has to be ready with answers to three questions:
At that time, someone interrupted me with a side comment, then one of the pastors told him directly: Let’s get to know the questions and their answers.
And he went on saying: What is the first question?
Everyone laughed at the priest’s keenness to know the questions and answers.
I said directly: The first question is:
Who is your God?
Meaning, have you devoted your effort, time, money, and love to supporting which idea and goal?
Was your money your god? Or your wife and children, your trade, modern science?
Was Muhammad your God, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Messi, or Maradona?
Everyone laughed and was amazed at the accuracy of the details.
And I went on The answer should be: The Creator (The Power in Heavens), He is not a Trinity. He has no son or partner. He does not come to earth in any human, animal, idol form).
He said: Of course.
And he asked: What is the second question?
I said: The second question is:
What is your religion?
Meaning, what is the life system that you made sure to follow in your life? Was it your whims and desires? Was it society, the religion of parents and grandparents, customs, traditions, and social media?
Or is it the divine system, which is the religion of monotheism?
The answer should be: The Pure Monotheism, which means to believe in the Creator and to have a direct connection with Him. It is not allowed to supplicate to the Creator through saints, prophets (including Prophet Muhammad and Jesus), idols, or priests.
He asked: Well, and what is the third?
I said: The third question is:
Who is your Prophet?
Meaning, who was your role model, your leader, your role model?
The answer should be: All the prophets of God including Moses, and Jesus who was created without father, just like Adam who was created without father or mother.
For example, if a Hindu or Buddhist wants to convert to Islam today, he must believe in Moses, Jesus, Jacob and Isaac, otherwise he will not accept his conversion to Islam.
This is another feature that you can only find in Islam.
If I want to convert to Christianity, I must renounce my faith in the Prophet of God, Muhammad. And if I want to convert to Judaism, I must lose my faith in Christ as well. But if I want to embrace Hinduism or Buddhism, I must lose my faith in all the prophets of God.
As for Islam, it is necessary to believe in all of them.
He joked: Well, now I know the answers well.
The audience laughed at his comment, and the other said:
This is a new and useful information that we did not know before.
One of the pastors said at the time: The Creator wanted to communicate with us through the Word. The word is the way of communication between people. He is capable of everything. The Creator chose this way to communicate with us. He sent His only begotten Son, who is the Word Himself to us. This is the mystery of faith.
I said: The Creator does not do everything He can. Incarnation does not befit the Majesty of the Creator, and it is logically impossible; it contradicts His attributes. It is impossible for the two opposites of imperfection attributes and perfection attributes to meet. This does not befit the Majesty of the Creator. Embodiment is a defect and imperfection (weakness, need, poverty, humiliation, etc.).
I also said: A teacher of a certain subject who explains the curriculum to students throughout the academic year, will not add at the end of the year mysteries in the test paper, simply because he wants the students to pass the test using their rationality.
I went on: Do you know what is the basis of man’s mission on earth according to the Islamic concept?
One of them said: Tell us.
I said: The essence of a humans’ task is their rationality with which they distinguished themselves from animals in order to differentiate between right and wrong in every step of their lives.
The struggle between right and wrong remains the basis of the test.
Nations are established in order to be tested by the Creator; to see who will stand with truth and who will stand with falsehood. The result is documented with the Creator’s prior knowledge of it, which will be evidence against each human being based on his/her records on the Day of Resurrection.
People are distinguished from each other according to their attitudes.
Thus, the existence of mysteries in the essence of faith contradicts the essence of man’s task, which is to differentiate between truth and falsehood by using his rationality.
Human life is an urgent mission on planet Earth. In this task the life of a human being is a series of decisions he makes in every minute of this life starting from his puberty, for which he will be held accountable after death by his Creator.
The lesson which God gives to all humanity when He accepted Adam’s repentance for eating the forbidden fruit is the first instance of forgiveness of God to humanity. There is no issue of the original sin. And there is no need for anyone to die for people. Christ escaped murder and crucifixion according to our belief. Every soul bears the burden of its own sin. This shows the merciful nature of God.
I also said: We believe in Christ as a messenger from God, and his mother is the best of women in the world. Muslim women are veiled like her. She is the only woman mentioned by name in the Holy Quran. There is a whole surah in her name in the Qur’an as well.
Thus, the Muslim worships the Creator as Jesus Christ worshiped the Creator; he does not worship Jesus Christ Himself .
He worships the Creator as Mary worshiped the Creator; he does not worship Mary herself.
A Muslim prostrates as Jesus Christ and all the prophets prostrated completely to the Creator in their prayers.
One of them asked: Can I ask about the prayer times?
I said: Sure:
He said: How do you know the prayer times?
I said: The day is divided into five natural daily divisions.
You say in English:
- Good morning.
- Good day.
- Good afternoon.
- Good evening.
- Good night.
Just like how you are communicating during these times with humans, we are communicating with the Creator
When a Muslim communicates with the Creator to repent from sin, thank for a blessing, or seek a need, and acknowledge that whatever bad happened to him was from himself and the good he obtained was from the Creator, he would have achieved the goal of his existence.
Tranquility will fill his soul, and his life will move on with happiness. Therefore, the moment he meets with the Creator after death will be the happiest.
When Muslims from some parts of the world pray to the Creator in the direction of Mecca they join their fellow Muslims praying elsewhere in the world in concentric human circles, they worship God in the same spiritual center.
This means that Muslims pray to their Creator all the time. In other words, when some Muslims finish their 5 minutes prayers somewhere, other Muslims start their 5 minutes elsewhere. The prayer timings depend on the sunrise and sunset and they concurrently occur with the movements of the pilgrims in Makkah, which is also consistent with the movement of the universe.
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “O followers of the earlier revelation! Come to an agreement between us and you: that we will worship none but God (the Creator), associate none with Him in His divinity (Jesus, Mary, Buddha, Idols, Muhammad… etc.), and that some of us will not take others as lords beside God, nor take one another as lords instead of God,(Priests, Saints, idols or prophets, etc.).” But if they turn away, then say, “Bear witness that we have submitted ˹to God alone˺.” (Qur’an, Al Imran 3:64)
I added: Since Muslims believe in the unity of the message and the unity of the source, I would like to mention here the similarities between the prayer of Muslims and the prayer of non-Muslims according to the book they believe in.
Beginning of prayer prayers by taking off their shoes.
Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ( Exodus 3:5)
Washing the feet and hands before prayer.
And Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet. They washed whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar, as the Lord commanded Moses. ( Exodus 40:31-32)
Prayer begins by standing.
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. (Mark 11:25)
kneeling in prayer.
He (Jesus) withdrew from his disciples about a stone’s throw away, knelt down, and began to pray. ( Luck 22:41)
Prostration during prayer.
When God spoke to Abram, confirming the covenant and the name change to Abraham, “Abram fell on his face”. This was a posture of reverence as God communicated his promises to him. ( Genesis 17:3)
Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. ( Exodus 38:8)
Going a little farther, he ( Jesus) fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will. ( Mathew 26:39)
This is exactly how to pray in Islam.
It is truly I. I am your Lord! So take off your sandals, for you are in the sacred valley of Ṭuwa. (Taha 20:12)
O believers! When you rise up for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, wipe your heads, and wash your feet to the ankles. ( Maida 5:6)
Establish prayer, pay alms-tax, and bow down with those who bow down. (Baqarah 2:43)
O believers! Bow down, prostrate yourselves, worship your Lord, and do ˹what is˺ good so that you may be successful. (Al Haj 22: 77)
One of them said: Very nice: He also said: Tranquility and peaceful coexistence remain the most important thing in existence.
I said: For us, the right of the Creator to be worshiped alone remains the most important thing in existence. Then comes human rights.
As for peaceful coexistence, the basis of Muslim’s conquest is to include others into their world (sharing the same rights and obligations), with disparities in the application tainted by human defects, which in later eras sometimes took a political character due to human weakness.
The Jews and Christians lived under the protection of Islam, enjoying their rights when Islam ruled. Even today, non-Muslims enjoy safety in Islamic countries. This is what the world is calling for today; the Islamic religion, which has given non-Muslims rights to it, and has defined the true meaning of peaceful coexistence for all of humanity.
It is worth noting here the importance of differentiating between the ideal religion of Islam and the non-ideal Muslims. But no pluralism in the absolute truth, which states:
True religion is one religion: To believe in the Creator, Who has no partner or child. The Creator does not incarnate in a human, animal or an idol form. Humans have to worship Him alone, not through a priest or saint.
At the end of the visit, the church fathers thanked us for this beautiful dialogue.
I thanked God Almighty for helping me answer the questions through this beautiful and meaningful dialogue.
Notes:
- 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 Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Middle East use the word “Allah” to refer to God, which refers to The Only True God. ↩︎
- 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. ↩︎
- The Qur’an is the last sacred book sent by God, but not the only book, as Muslims believe in all the earlier revelations of God (the scriptures of Abraham, the book of David, the Torah, the Gospel ,etc.). Muslims believe that the original message in all the sacred books is Pure Monotheism (unifying God in worship). Unlike the Divine scriptures that preceded, the Qur’an has not been kept in the hands of any particular group or clergymen of all Muslims which would lead to the misinterpretation or alteration of it. On the contrary, the Qur’an has always been within the reach of Muslims who recite it in their daily prayers, and they refer to it for all their concerns. Muslims read and recite the same Qur’anic text that was read and recited during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions. Not a single letter has been added or removed from the Qur’an. The language of the Qur’an, the prophecies which came true, the accuracy in historical accounts, the mathematical inimitability and scientific accuracy, all prove that the Qur’an could not have been produced by a man who lived in Arabia in the 7th century and who could not read or write. God the Almighty challenged the Arabs and the non-Arabs to bring forth a book similar to the one He revealed, even though the Arabs at that time were masters of eloquence and rhetoric, they were unable to meet the challenge, and they realized that the Qur’an could not be from any other than God, the Lord of the universe. ↩︎
- The Ka’aba is a building covered with black cloth, which is placed in the city of Mecca (in Saudi Arabia). It has a door but no windows. No one is buried in the Ka’aba, it is a prayer room not a tomb. A Muslim praying inside the Ka’aba can pray in any direction. The Ka’aba was rebuilt several times. Muslims believe that the most important person who rebuilt the Ka’aba was Prophet Abraham together with his son Ishmael. An original part of the outer walls of the Ka’aba is the black stone believed by Muslims to have come to the Earth with Adam. Muslims do not believe that this
stone is divine or has any healing or other special powers. ↩︎
Source: War on the truth. Faten Sabri
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