Frequently Asked Questions On Islam
Dr. Adel Elsaie
Who is Mary in Islam?
Who is Jesus in Islam?
What about the headscarf and the Muslim women's right?
Is there any difference between the Islamic and Western values?
What is the Quran according to TV Evangelists?
Is Islam a religion of terrorism?
Are Muslims in USA
Does Islam have present-day miracles?
I
The western media
and fundamentalist Christians promote the idea that the God of the Muslims is
different from the God of Christianity and Judaism. They advocate that Allah is not a real
God but an idol! Have you ever seen a statue of Allah or Muhammad? As a matter
of fact, Muhammad destroyed all 360 idols in
The English Old
Testament Starts:
“In the beginning, God created the
heaven and earth.”
The Arabic Old
Testament Starts:
“In the beginning, Allah created the heaven and earth.”
The name of God throughout the Arabic Old and New Testament is Allah. Consequently, it is ironic that the western Christians are unaware of the name of God of their Arabic brothers.
The following is the first page of the Arabic Bible
Critics of Islam usually present
translated Verses of the Quran that are taken out of context, or they pick up a
translation that advances their biased point of view. The Office for the
Non-Christian Affairs at the
The same document stresses that Allah is
the True God and not an idol:
“It would
seem pointless to maintain that Allah is not real God, as do certain people in the west!”
There is no better
way of illustrating Islamic faith in God than by quoting the following extracts
from Lumen Gentium, produced by the second Vatican Council (1962-1965):
“The Muslims profess the faith of Abraham and worship with us the sole merciful God, who is the future judge of men on the Day of Reckoning.”
However, some of the TV
Evangelists insist that Allah is not the same God of the Christians. They
refuse to recognize that the
Who is Mary in Islam?
Islam is the only religion that declares Mary as the holiest woman ever (The Quran, Chapter “Surah” 3, verse “Ayah” 42) - not Muhammad’s (Pbuh) mother, daughter, or wife. One complete Surah in Quran is devoted to Mary with her name as the title of Surah 19. Surah 3 has a title of the family of Imran (the father of Mary). The Bible does not give Mary the same honor. It is important to note that Judaism does not recognize Mary or Jesus.
Who is Jesus in Islam?
The
three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam originated in
the
The differences in the stature of the common prophets involve only Jesus and Mohammed, Peace Be Upon Them. Jews do not recognize Jesus and claim that he was a false Messiah, and Christians do not recognize Mohammed and claim that he was a false prophet.
What about the headscarf and the Muslim women's right ?
Do you remember the
The next myth is the nonexistence of women
rights in Islam.
What comes to your mind when you think of a
Muslim woman? A mysterious, veiled victim of male oppression, awaiting Western
liberation? A slogan-shouting terrorist? An uneducated foreigner with whom you
have little or nothing in common? Unless your social circle includes Muslim
friends and acquaintances, the chances are that your impressions of Muslim
women have largely been formed by negative media stereotypes - images that
usually have little to do with real life, and may have been designed to attract
more viewers, sell more products, or gain support for an interest group or someone's
political agenda.
But did you know that the majority of
European and American converts to Islam are women - not men? Would it surprise
you to learn that many women in the Muslim world feel sorry for Western women
and view them as being victimized? Have you ever stopped to consider why Muslim
women who immigrate to the West usually maintain their identity and strive to
pass it on to their children? A thinking person may well ask if Islam is as
oppressive to women as some western media would have us believe, why aren't
Muslim women throwing away their veils in the west? What it is about Islam that
attracts any followers outside its heartlands?
First of all, women are portrayed
positively in the Quran and the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). The
Quran is the only book of world Scripture in which women are frequently
referred to alongside men and both are described as being friends and partners
in faith. There is one long chapter in the Quran with women as the title of the
chapter, an honor that no other religion has. This shows the dignifying status
of women in Islam.
The Prophet Muhammad was an extremely
successful social reformer as well as spiritual and political leader, who championed
the rights of the weak and oppressed. The verses of Quran referring to women
had the effect of vastly improving the status and rights of women at the time
they were revealed. Muslim women were granted the right to own, inherit and
dispose of their own property as they saw fit; reject forced marriages; keep
their own names and identities after marriage; initiate divorce; and obtain an
education - back in the 7th century. In contrast to the dismal situation
affecting many women in developing countries today, early Muslim women were
noted for their learning and accomplishments. The Prophet declared, “To seek
knowledge is an obligation on every Muslim, male and female,” and his own
wife Aisha was responsible for transmitting thousands of his sayings to later
generations. Aisha was also renowned for her knowledge of poetry, medicine, and
Islamic law, as well as her personal qualities of character and intelligence.
When she led a battle after the Prophet's death, no one objected on the grounds
that she was a woman. Many Muslim women in the medieval period enjoyed
positions of respect as scholars and religious authorities. Therefore, Muslims
seeking to improve the position of women in society have usually focused their
efforts on getting men and women to simply practice Islam, rather than trying
to 'reform' it, as happened with other religions. The main obstacles to Muslim
women achieving the rights guaranteed to them, then and now, have been
persistent un-Islamic cultural traditions (usually dating to the period before
people accepted Islam in a given locality), inadequate religious education, and
the bad side of human nature.
As shown in many verses of Quran, women
are considered to be the spiritual equals of men, and they have the same
religious duties. This is all the more important when we consider that the main
goal of a Muslim is to serve God, and that this world is regarded as no more
than testing-grounds to prepare oneself for eternal life after death.
Therefore, worldly accomplishments, fame, wealth and power simply do not have
the same attraction for a Muslim, whose main focus is on the Next World. The
Quran repeatedly draws our attention to the fact that the time we spend in this
world is short and unpredictable, and what really count is our character, how
we treat others, and what we do with the blessings God has given us. In this
context, home and family are of paramount importance, since stable families are
essential to the nurture of well-adjusted children who will transmit their
faith and values to the next generation. According to a well-known Arab
proverb, “the mother is a school.”
Islam supports the traditional division of
labor whereby women assume the main responsibility for home while men are
responsible for their financial support, but with an important difference:
motherhood and homemaking, like a Muslim's inner life, are not considered to be
less important or rewarding than a professional career. Indeed, motherhood is
one of the most important professions, and competent mothers who can successfully
run a warm and welcoming home, and raise a family of happy, confident and
well-disciplined children are becoming increasingly harder to find. Muslim
wives and mothers are granted the respect due to all women for the struggles
and sacrifices they make for the sake of their families. Furthermore, Muslims
consider it unfair to burden women with both the physical and emotional demands
of motherhood and the professional demands of the workplace, which end up
exhausting so many women and destroying family life for the sake of economic
gain. Muslims often express sympathy for women in the West, who often suffer
from sexual exploitation and abuse at home and in the workplace, while being
unappreciated in their traditional roles. Western women who seek to be
respected must often dress and behave like men, and are expected in practice to
neglect their children's needs for the sake of their careers. In Islam,
femininity is appreciated, and Muslim women may seek a higher education, work
outside the home or volunteer their services to benefit the community as long
as their primary responsibilities are taken care of. Any income that a Muslim
woman earns or inherits is her own, to spend as she likes; men remain solely
responsible for supporting the family and the wife even if she has her own
income.
Although Muslim parents traditionally play an important role in arranging introductions and helping to choose marriage partners for their children, both husband and wife must freely agree to the marriage. The Prophet granted girls who had been forced into marriages against their will the right to have their marriages annulled.
The
relationship between husband and wife in Islam is an interdependent one, based
on love and tranquility. The Quran says,
Surah 30, Ayah 21 “And among His
Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may
dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your
(hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect..”
Both parents should strive to establish a stable, loving home and partnership. Major family decision-making should be through consultation and discussion. As the provider, the husband is expected to take the lead, as he is accountable to God for his care of the family. If no agreement can be reached, the wife should be supportive as long as her husband does not ask her to do anything that contravenes religious law. This works well as long as each spouse behaves maturely and treats the other with respect, kindness and consideration.
In order to safeguard the moral integrity
of family and society, Muslim men and women are expected to observe certain
guidelines of behavior that Westerners may find restrictive. Both sexes are
expected to dress modestly in loose, non-transparent clothing and avoid
situations that would put them alone with members of the opposite sex, or lead
to temptation or misunderstandings. Muslim women additionally cover their hair,
since women are ordinarily considered to be the more attractive of the sexes.
These restrictions are not observed at home among close family members, but
serve to protect women's honor in public and draw attention to their personal
qualities rather than their looks. Do you remember one of the movies about
Jesus, and how the Virgin Mary and Christian women were dressed up? Aren’t
theirs the same cover as that of Muslim women? It is the same modest dress that
women used during the times of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. In Islam, the sexual
urge is considered to be natural and desirable as long as it is confined to
expression within marriage. However, Muslims are saddened by the rise in the
vulgar exploitation of women and the human body for marketing purposes and
pornography, which inevitably result in a cheapening of sexuality and the
undermining of family and spiritual life.
Many people
are aware that Muslim men are permitted to marry more than one wife. What is
not generally known is that strict conditions of equal treatment in terms of
time and money are imposed on men who do, or that women may stipulate in their
marriage contracts that they have the right to divorce if their husbands take
another wife. In reality, monogamy is the norm and polygamy the exception; it
has never been common among Muslims except in areas where it was already practiced,
and it is seldom successful unless the first wife agrees. Islam did not
introduce polygamy; in reality, some form of polygamy - whether with legal
marriages, mistresses, prostitution or extra-marital affairs - occurs in every
society. Rather, it allowed and regulated it in order to protect the women and
children who might otherwise be taken advantage of. In certain cases, such as
when the first wife is chronically (or mentally) ill or unable to bear
children; when there are many widows and orphans due to war; or when a marriage
has effectively broken down but the wife would prefer to remain married; open
and legalized polygamy can be a workable second-best solution.
The Prophet
Muhammad was married to his first wife, Khadijah, for 25 years, and he did not
take other wives until after her death. His marriages to several widows and
divorcees in later years were primarily contracted for political and
humanitarian reasons, as was expected of a man in his position. His home life
was characterized by love, consideration, kindness and respect.
Again
the human right of Muslim women to wear Islamic head covering or hijab
is been denied to many women in most Muslim countries. TV news anchor women are
fired from their jobs if they insist of wearing hijab on TV while half-naked
women are more than welcomed. The story of a Turkish Muslim lady received
international attention few years back. The 35-year-old Merve Kavakci was
elected as Member of Parliament for the Islamic Virtue Party in 1999 in
The
courageous Turkish ladies like Merve Kavakci certainly won’t forget the
country’s roots. The burden of human rights violations falls squarely on the
shoulders of Muslim women in
The above story of Merve is a real story
with real name. I know her father and her mother. Her father Professor Dr.
Yusuf Kavakci is a close friend of mine. He was the Dean of the
Is there any difference between the Islamic and Western values?
In a recent poll two thirds of Americans surveyed believe that Muslims should adopt Western values instead of Islamic values. This poll shows that Americans has very little knowledge about Islam. Islam as a monotheistic religion, like Christianity, believes in the Divine Values of Justice, democracy, and freedom.
Democracy
No one really believes that any
Muslim does not advocate Democracy. However, real democracy is hard to find in
Islamic countries. In many Islamic countries, such as
Freedom
of speech
No one really believes that any
Muslim does not advocate Freedom of speech. The freedom of speech in most
Muslim countries is only guaranteed within the boundaries set by governments!
Thus, Muslims believe in freedom of speech, but cannot exercise it in their
countries.
Freedom
of Religion
No one really believes that any
Muslim does not advocate freedom of religion. The freedom of religion in most
Muslim countries is only guaranteed within the boundaries set by governments!
Thus, Muslims believe in freedom of religion, but cannot exercise it in their
countries. The boundaries of the freedom of religion are applied on both the
Muslim majority and the other religion minorities.
Freedom of sex
The freedom of sex
in Islamic countries is exactly the same as that of the orthodox Christianity
and Judaism. While the freedom of sex that includes teenage pregnancies and
extramarital affairs is rampant in the western counties, there are still many
western citizens that detest this phenomenon. This freedom of sex destroys
families and children. In Islam, sexual fidelity is sternly demanded, and proven adultery is
punishable in an Islamic country that adopts the Islamic laws.
Following
Islamic law, illegal intercourse is defined as that between a man and a woman
without the legal relationship of husband and a wife. Historically, all social
systems, that have been close to human nature have always considered illegal
intercourse a serious crime and have prescribed severe punishment. But with the
deterioration in moral standards, the western society has become more and more
liberal. The first common lapse in this matter was caused by the distinction
between adultery and fornication. Fornication was taken as an ordinary offense
while adultery was taken as a punishable crime. For many reasons, this
distinction is a direct outcome of the erroneous conception formed by the
Christians resulting from the incident of the Jews asking Jesus (Pbuh) to
pronounce judgment on a case of adultery and his reply to them
John
8:7 “He that is without a sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”
The above statement by Jesus
could well mean that the accusers should be sinless and should start by
themselves first before accusing someone else. It does not mean that Jesus
supported adultery.
The freedom of using drugs in Islamic countries is exactly the same as that of the orthodox Christianity and Judaism. While the freedom of using drugs is rampant in the western counties, there are still many western citizens that detest this phenomenon. The number of alcoholic and drug addicts in the west is frightening.
What is the Quran according to TV Evangelists?
After September 11, TV Evangelists discovered that the problem of the Muslims is the Quran! Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham and others turn to the TV to educate the people. Graham announced that the God of the Muslims is not the God of the Christians, because Muslims do not believe in the trinity. Of course he did not say that many Christians do not believe in that either. Also the Jews and all other religions do not believe in the trinity.
Another Evangelist was attacking Islam on TV and associating Islam and terrorism. He quoted a verse in the Quran, Surah 2:191, saying “kill the infidels everywhere.” He also complained that each time he confronted a Muslim with this verse, he always get the answer that this verse is taken out of context. So he has the conviction that Muslims are trying to cover up on the terrorism in Islam. Now let us see what the Quran says in Surah 2:191-192:
“Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you. But do not transgress limits; for Allah does not love transgressors. And slay them wherever you catch them. And turn them out from where they have turned you out.”
Any reasonable person would understand the above verses as a call for the Muslims to defend themselves against oppression and injustice. It is clear from the above verses that Muslims were attacked first, and they did not start the aggression. And Allah states clearly that he does not love transgressors. Any verse in the Quran that ordered the Muslim to fight is in the context of defending themselves against aggression.
Another TV show had Pat Robertson showing a verse in the Quran that asks the Muslims not to take Christians and Jews as Friends. The correct translation of the word used in the Quran is “Mawla” which means religious authority. So Muslims are not supposed to consider Christians and Jews as authorities in Islam. And that is exactly why Muslims should ignore the Islamic religious claims of the TV Evangelists.
Is Islam a religion of terrorism?
During the last two decades the concept of
"Islamic terror" has been introduced and publicized in the western
media. It appears that this concept started with the first uprising of the
Palestinian children against the Israeli occupation. It is interesting to note
that the only weapons of the Palestinian children were rocks and stones against
the complete arsenal of the Israeli army that includes machine guns, Apache
helicopters, F-16 fighters, and bulldozers. Those children opposed the lack of
human rights and hopes under the terrible conditions of the Israeli occupation.
However, we are asked to believe that youths who blow themselves up do so
because they hate the western freedom! Somehow that sounds farfetched and not
unlike the motives attributed to the enemy in
While X was growing
up, he used to live in a refugee camp, not a city or a village but a refugee
camp, where there is not enough clean water, food, and electricity and where
the streets are 6 feet wide. His father used to point out to one direction and
tell him that his family used to live on the other side in a house with a farm
and lots of trees, before the Israelis expelled them. X looks at the other side
and sees Israeli children going to schools, playing with swings, and singing
cheerful songs. As he grows up, he has strong memories of his father and older
brothers being beaten up by the Israeli soldiers when they voiced an opposition
at many of the humiliating check points that they have to go through every day.
The trip that takes an hour in the
When he was 18
years old, he did not finish high school. Over half the Palestinians are
unemployed and many lives in extreme poverty. He does not have hope for
employment. He does not have hope for love and making a family. He does not
have any hope for the future, which is a basic human right. This X is not a
single case in
However, when a
suicide bombing, or an attack on an illegal settlement, happens in
The Palestinian
resistance is considered a freedom movement in
If freedom fighters
are called terrorists, then the whole human history has to be rewritten:
1.
The American Indians should be called
terrorists, because they fought the American settlers.
2.
The Americans should be called terrorists,
because they fought the British Army.
3.
The French should be called terrorists,
because they fought the German Nazis.
4.
The South Africans should be called
terrorists, because they fought the European settlers.
5.
And so on, Also, George Washington, Charles
De Gaulle, and Nelson Mandela should be called terrorists.
It is true that one of the distinctive
characteristics of the times we live in is the overwhelming presence of
violence in our societies. Whether it is the bombing of an hotel or an embassy,
the Muslim’s mass graves in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq, the hijacking of an
aircraft where innocent people are held at ransom to achieve political goals,
and the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington which caused
the death of thousands of innocent civilians, we live in an age where the
manipulation and loss of innocent lives has become commonplace. This kind of
indiscriminate violence is considered as one of the prime threats to peace and
security in our societies. One of the
unfortunate results of this new terminology is that it limits the definition of
terrorism to that perpetrated by small groups or individuals. Terrorism, in
fact, spans the entire world, and manifests itself in various forms. Its
perpetrators do not fit any stereotype. Those who hold human lives cheap, and
have the power to expend human lives, appear at different levels in our
societies. The frustrated employee who kills his colleagues in cold-blood, the
right wing radical Timothy McVeigh who bombed the Oklahoma City, or the child
who massacred school children for the thrill of it are all terrorists who
provoke anger and disgust. Ironically
however, the politician who uses age-old ethnic animosities between peoples to
consolidate his position, the head of state who orders “carpet bombing” of
entire cities, the governments that slaughter thousands of civilians by using
weapons of mass destruction, are rarely punished for their crimes against
humanity.
There
is an urgent global need to define terrorism and to discern between terrorism
and freedom fighting. In the absence of that definition, the whole world should
be called terrorists and not only Muslims. All the Indians would be called
terrorists, because some Indians killed many Muslims in
True Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam command love, mercy, justice and peace. In the absence
of these Divine values, terrorism, whatever its definition may be, will produce
hatred, cruelty, and more violence. The international community should
eliminate the source of violence and not merely fight violence with violence.
The terms "Islamic terror", “militant Muslims”, and “radical Islamic
groups” should be abandoned, and the mass injustice should be stopped.
The following points
summarize the position of Islam on the subject of terrorism:
-
Islam is the religion of justice and good deeds. Surah 16:90 “Allah commands Justice, the doing of good deeds, and giving of relative and kin. And He forbids all indecent deeds and evil and rebellion. He instruct you that you may receive admonition.”
-
Islam forbids injustice and considers it a great sin. Surah 14: 42 “Think not that Allah does not heed the deeds of those who do wrong. He but give them respite against a Day when the eyes will fixedly stare in horror.”
-
Islam honors human beings above the brute creation. Surah 17:70 “We have honored the sons of Adam; provided them with transport on land and sea; given them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favors above a great part of Our Creation."
-
Islam calls Christians and Jews People of the Book. Surah 3:64 “Say O people of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah"
According to Matthew 10: 34 Jesus said: "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword.” Does this means that Jesus, God forbids, was a terrorist. No Muslim can even start thinking about that. Yet our Christian brothers keeps of accusing Islam as a religion of terror.
Are Muslims in USA
Muslims are after presenting
their case in any society that they live in. They especially would like to
present their case to their Christian brothers, because Islam is the closest
religion to Christianity. It is a fact that Muslims ruled
The Arabic root of the word Islam is S-L-M that means submit to Will of God or peace. The state of peace is called SaLaM (related to the Hebrew word shalom). In the Bible, there are many verses that address the submission to God. From that sense, Islam is mentioned in the Bible:
Ex 10: 3 so Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This
is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to
submit to me? Let my people go, so they can worship me.
Ps 68:31 let
Ps 83:16 utterly
disgrace them until they
submit to your name, O LORD.
Eph
Does Islam have present-day miracles?
Anyone who does not believe in miracles can read the Quran and see the real spiritual and scientific miracles in this Book. Anyone who does not believe in miracles, can go to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and examine the physical miracle of the well of Zamzam that has been pumping pure water for thousands of years with no sign of drying up. It is not a coincidence that the only two miracles that exist on this Earth belong to Islam, while all the miracles that Jesus or Moses performed are only recorded in the Holy Books.
The well of water mentioned in
genesis
Surah 3:96 “Verily, the first house [of worship]
appointed for mankind was that in Bakka (
Amazingly enough, this name Bakka
is mentioned by Prophet David in his Psalm 84:6:
“Who
passing through the
The well here is the well-known well of Zamzam, close to the Kabah.
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