Answers to Questions #2
Islam Newsroom / Answering "Trick" Questions (part 2)
Now another question coming from the same email, but a very different style of writing:
".. I am sure i read in a hadith, that muhhumed saw a christian monk and started crying and umar asked him whys he crying and muhhumed said beacuse the monk is going to hell......i dont know if this is a relaible hadith though.... ??
thankz agian, bye"
OK. Let me share with you the exact things you asked me, and the exact reply I gave you previously.
"What will really happen to a Christian, who never heard about Islam, and they died.....like billions of people have; will they go to hell just because they didn't believe in Muhammad? If Yes, how is that fair?"
My answer to you was:
"Allah tells us in the Quran that He never punishes a nation until after He has sent a messenger with the clear message of "Worship your Creator and Sustainer alone without partners."
The Quran does not tell us everyone who was before Muhammad, peace be upon him, is going to Hell.
Quran tells us Allah created us in a test, here on earth. The test is to see (for us to see) who is the best in worship of Allah. The translation more or less, says, "Allah has only mankind and jinn to worship Him." [Quran 51:56]
He also tells us, "Allah does not forgive anyone to set up partners with Him in worship, but anything less than He can forgive." [Quran 4:48]
Notice too, in the Quran Allah gives many examples of people who lived before Muhammad, peace be upon him, did go to Paradise, because they believed in the current prophet had been sent to them and obeyed God and their prophet. This is the meaning of "Islam."
A person who never heard of any prophet, yet they believed in God as the Creator, Sustainer of them and the universe and tried to worship Him according to whatever Allah let them know. Then it would be up to Allah to know what is in their hearts and what is in their minds and He is their ultimate Judge, and this is one of His Attributes or beautiful names, "Al Hakeem" (The Judge).
He also says He does not punish for what people do not know or what is beyond their control or ability. In other words, He is most Fair. And also happens to be one of His beautiful Names and Characteristics, "Al-Adil" The Just."
I was clear in mentioning the condition was "after" the messenger came to them. The sites you are quoting from are NOT answering the same question.
They are saying, after anyone from the Jews and Christians who hears about Muhammad, peace be upon him, and the message he was sent with (Worship God, Alone without any partners) and they don't accept it before they die; they will be in the Fire of Hell.
The operative word here is "after" and I was telling you about those who did not hear about the message and it is up to Allah to Forgive them or punish them and this is from the verse in the Quran wherein Jesus says essentially the same thing to Allah.
Please read:
Jesus prophesied people would worship him uselessly and believe in doctrines made by men (Matthew 15:9).
"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
This verse, Matthew 15:9, is further supported by these words of the Quran:
116. And (remember) when Allah will say (on the Day of Resurrection): "O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say unto men: "Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?" He will say: "Glory be to You! It was not for me to say what I had no right (to say).
Had I said such a thing, You would surely have known it. You know what is in my innerself though I do not know what is in Yours, truly, You, only You, are the AllKnower of all that is hidden and unseen.
117. "Never did I say to them aught except what You (Allâh) did command me to say: 'Worship Allâh, my Lord and your Lord.' And I was a witness over them while I dwelt amongst them, but when You took me up, You were the Watcher over them, and You are a Witness to all things. (This is a great admonition and warning to the Christians of the whole world).
118. "If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them, verily You, only You are the AllMighty, the AllWise."
(Al-Ma’idah 5:116-117)
If the people did not worship Jesus, peace be upon him, and they followed his teachings, then it is up to Allah to forgive them. But if anyone follows a made up religion calling itself "Jesus Religion" or even calling itself "Muhammad's Religion" this does not mean it really is. Therefore Allah will not accept it.
Read our pages on our website about this:
Read . . IslamTomorrow.com/word/ And IslamTomorrow.com/belief.htm
*When I asked you about what you said, being applied to Christianity, what did you answer to me?
*And what about your question, if it was reversed? Suppose someone asked a Christian the same thing about their religion, what would they say?
I have of course, spoken with many preachers and priests and they have all indicated in Christianity if a person did not acknowledge "Jesus as their savior" they would go to Hell.
According to you, is this fair?
I asked you a question about Christianity. "Is it fair what they are saying about those who did not believe in Jesus, even though they never even heard of him?"
Did you even bother to answer? (NO)
*And this was my answer to your next email . .
Question # 6/16/2003 12:12:26 AM Pacific Daylight Time - you wrote to me:
I've been studying Islam for a few months and I'm quite sure its the right religion, but not as certain as one should be if they were going to say the shahadah if you could answer something's for me I would be ever so grateful...
1. If everything happens by the will of God, why is Christianity the most wide spread religion in the world?
2. Why did God allow ever so many people to think Jesus died on the cross? And I've read some Christians say the "deception" of the Quran is that it says Jesus didn't die for them, if you could read isiaah 42, in the OT, it says things like "he endured pain for us, our sins are gone through him," Can u answer this please?
3. What will really happen to, e.g., a Christian, who never heard about Islam, and they died.....like billions of people have; will they go to hell just because they didn't believe in Muhammad? If Yes, how is that fair?
4. Why should we do what God says to do? We didn't ask to get created, why should we listen to God? And if its to be thankful that he DID create me.....why do I have to thank him SO SO SO MUCH, Ramadan, 5 daily prays...???
5. So God created this WHOLE UNIVERSE, just to see...who is good...and who is bad...and then destroy the universe...and rewarded each accordingly(?); it all seems a bit far fetched.
6. what will happen to all the people even today, and definitely throughout history who live in the jungles etc, and lived there life just doing what ever they wanted? why should I have to pray 5 times a day and all these other things living my life SO strictly when they didn't? How is that fair? Will they be judged according to the Quran and sunnah, if so...how were they to know eating pork is haram, having sex without marriage is haram, drinking alcohol is haram...???
7. How do you know its not all in your head that "Allah lead me to Islam," etc., because there's millions of people who say "Jesus lead me to Christianity" etc.; and you would say, "But, no . . he's just a man. He can't do anything - Only God can! If that is so, then why does God Fool these people into Hell and disbelief?
Why???
__
Thank you for your questions.
Before we begin to provide answers, here are some important points to keep in mind:
- As Muslims we cannot lie about anything, especially about our religion
- We have original recorded sources of our religion:
- A) The Quran
- B) Teachings of Muhammad.
This is a very unique part of Islam, not available in any other ancient religions.
3. Sometimes "questions" contain misinformation. We must qualify what it is that someone is saying against what they are implying.
4. If you find the answer to your question makes you say, "I didn't know that" or "This is good" are you ready to worship your God and your Lord without and partners?
This what Islam is really all about. The most important subject is the worship of Almighty God, without any partners or associates or "gods" besides Almighty God.
Bismillah Rahman Raheem
Answer #03-06-18 5:30 PM
You said you have been studying Islam for months. Yet there are a number of basic things that you seem to have missed. Please take the opportunity to visit our site on these subjects:
IslamTomorrow.com/word
<> 1. If everything happens by the will of God, why is Christianity the most wide spread religion in the world?
Please note the above statements, particularly #3.
Your question contains a false statement in it. Christianity is divided into a number of major groups - all these groups are not going to Paradise.
"Catholics, not accepting other sects are also going to Paradise(?); Orthodox (Greek Russian), also not accepting other groups are going to Paradise(?); Protestants (divided into hundreds of groups), all not accepting each other are correct(?)".
Muslims are one forth of the people on earth. Christians are very close to this number, in spite of the exaggerated numbers being offered by western census takers.
But regardless of the statistics today, we know throughout history Judaism and Christianity have not been the largest religions on earth. It was not until in the last ten centuries that the Catholics and Orthodox were able to propagate their various forms of Christianity by force at the point of a sword (remember the Crusades, Inquisition, American, Mexican and South American conversions?) or a gun (Turkey, Bosnia, Kosovo, India, Russia). So, Christianity has NOT always been amongst the top number in terms of population.
We can begin with Abraham, peace be upon him. We would all have to agree the religion of Abraham, peace be upon him, was not popular during his life, as he and his wife were the only ones following it and they had to leave his home land due to persecution for their beliefs. At the time of Moses, peace be upon him, the religion of God for those people (the Jews) was not the most popular, was it? Pharaoh told everyone he was God to them.
Now let us look to the time of David and Solomon, peace be upon them. Did you notice the pagans were outnumbering them when David was a boy and threw the stone at Goliath? And even though Solomon, peace be upon him, had big armies, there is no way all of the Jews together could have equaled the number of Chinese Buddhists living to the east of them. True?
Then look to Jesus, peace be upon him. Did he have the largest number of followers during his lifetime? Not at all.
They were so outnumbered at the garden of Gethsemene he ordered his companions to put down their swords after they had cut the ear off one of the servants of a priest. True? ~ Why? Because they were severely outnumbered.
When they were trying to put Jesus, peace be upon him, on the cross were his followers outnumbered and unable to stop them or not?
Hinduism happens to be one of the largest in the world today, immediately after Islam. So, what would that indicate according to the way you are asking your question?
If the Hindus of India (one billion) became Muslims, then Islam would be greater than Christianity by over 50%.
What would this mean to you or I? Since when do we consider something being right or wrong just because a lot of people do it?
What we should be concerned over is not how many people are attracted to a belief, but rather whether or not the Almighty Creator Himself, would accept it.
<> 2. Why did God allow ever so many people to think Jesus died on the cross? And I've read some Christians say the "deception" of the Quran is that it says Jesus didn't die for them, if you could read Isaiah 42, in the OT, it says things like "he endured pain for us, our sins are gone through him," Can u answer this please?
Again, I would call your attention to the above answer. You assum, "so many people think Jesus died on the cross." But in reality of the six or seven billion people living on earth, a minority - not a majority, carry this belief.
The Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Taoists, Native Americans, aboriginals of Australia and millions more do not believe any of that.
Then you refer to the Quran with the term "deception." Based on what? Let us examine two things and compare for ourselves here and now.
First, the word "Quran" means the "recital of words" from the angel Jibril (Gabriel in English) to Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Does it still exist today? YES!
Do all Muslims all over the earth agree there is only one Quran and it must be in Arabic in order to be the real Quran? YES!
Have over 20,000,000 (twenty million) Muslims memorized it exactly, word for word, line for line, letter for letter and jot for jot?YES!
Do all 2 million Muslims know how to pronounce at least a few words and phrases from original Arabic language? YES!
Do Muslims know how the words were pronounced and what they meant at the time the words were revealed to prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him? YES!
In other words, if all the written books were destroyed can Muslims produce their Book exactly the same in Arabic as it was? YES!
(reference: IslamTomorrow.com/everything/quran.htm
Second, does the Bible exist today in a similar form to the Quran? NO!
Is there an original in text? NO!
Is there a consensus amongst the majority of all Christians the Bible came in English? NO!
Do all Christians use the same Bible? NO!
Can you hear it recited exactly the same in England as you hear it in Russia, or Spain, or South America, or Germany? NO!
Is the Catholic Bible (73 books) exactly like the Protestant Bible (66 books)? NO!
Are there different versions of the Bible in different languages? YES!
Are any two exactly alike? NO!
Have millions, or even thousands, or even hundreds of people memorized the Bible? NO! (Not even ONE)
In the original language of Aramaic, spoken by Jesus, peace be upon him, who it was revealed to? NO!
Can you rely one hundred per cent on each and every single word and you know how it was pronounced by the one it was revealed to? NO! Not even one sentence of the New Testement.
(reference: BibleIslam.com )
As regards your expression "endured pain for us" it so happens our prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him, told us all of the prophets came with the same message, to worship One God, without any partners, all of them suffered and he did suffer the most.
So, what would be your point in this line of questioning? We agree Jesus, Moses, Abraham and all the prophets, peace be upon them all, did in fact, suffer very much in order for us to know the "Plan of Salvation by Submission to Allah in Obedience to Him, in Peace" (Islam).
3. What will really happen to, e.g., a Christian, who never heard about Islam, and they died, like billions of people have; will they go to hell just because they didn't believe in Muhammad? If Yes, how is that fair?
Allah tells us in the Quran He never punishes a nation until after He has sent a messenger with the clear message of "Worship your Creator and Sustainer alone without partners."
So did the message come to you yet? Do you understand not to worship any but Allah, alone, without partners.
The Quran does not tell us everyone who didn't believe in Muhammad, peace be upon him, is going to Hell. The Quran tells us Allah created us in a test, here on earth. The test is for us to see, who is best ibn worship of Allah.
The translation more or less, says, "Allah has only created you to worship Him." [Quran 51:56]
He also tells us, He does not forgive anyone to set up partners with Him in worship, but anything less than that He can forgive.
Notice too, in the Quran, Allah gives many examples of people who lived before Muhammad, peace be upon him, they did go to Paradise, because they believed in the current prophet sent to them and they obeyed God and their prophet.
This is the meaning of real "ISLAM."
A person who never heard of any prophet, yet they believed in God as the Creator, Sustainer of them and the universe and tried to worship Him according to whatever Allah let them know, it would be up to Allah to know what is in their hearts and what is in their minds and He is their ultimate Judge, and this is one of His Attributes or beautiful names, "Al Hakeem" (The Judge).
He also says He does not punish people for what they do not know or what is beyond their control or ability. In other words, He is most Fair. And also happens to be one of His beautiful Names and Characteristics, "Al-Adil" The Just.
What about your question, if reversed though?
Suppose you asked a Christian the same thing about their religion, what would they say?
I have of course, spoken with many preachers and priests and they have all indicated in Christianity if a person did not acknowledge "Jesus as their savior" they go to Hell.
Is that fair?
4. Why should we do what God says to do? We didn't ask to get created, why should we listen to God? And if its to be thankful that he DID create me.....why do I have to thank him SO SO MUCH, Ramadan, 5 daily prays...?
You don't have to. There is nothing anywhere in the universe saying you have to do what God wants you to do. There is absolutely no compulsion in religion with Allah. This should make some people feel great. And it is true. Allah never forces anyone to thank Him, worship Him, obey Him or even acknowledge Him at all. It is up to the individual.
However, there is something called "Divine Justice" and everyone will see, one day, everything that they have done while on this earth. There will be a Day of Judgment or a Day of Reckoning. That is promised in the Bible and the Quran. Without doubt, everyone will see an atom's weight of good they have done on that Day and every single atom's weight of evil that they have done, will be seen on that Day.
None will escape the Judgment of Allah. All of us will be rewarded (or punished) according to our intentions and our actions. This is a promise from your Lord.
Please take some time to read the Old Testament and the Quran. See for yourself, that the biggest sin was in false worship of created Gods. And then think for yourself and pray to Almighty God, the God of Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus, and Muhammad, peace be upon them all, and ask Him to guide you to the truth about this subject.
5. So God created this WHOLE UNIVERSE, just to see...who is good...and who is bad...and then destroy the universe...and rewarded each accordingly (??) seems a bit far fetched.?
This is not the teaching of Islam. We do not accept Allah is trying to see how things are going to happen. He already Knew everything before He created anything.
He put us all here in a test to show us, for us to see, not Him, what we really are and what our attitude really is. On the Day of Judgment, who do you think will be our Judge? Allah the Almighty One God.
But who will be our prosecuting attorney? Ourselves.
We will all be caused to bear witness against ourselves by disclosing what we did while we were here on this earth. And did we offer any appreciation or thanks to Him?
Or did we follow our own vain desires and cause mischief in the earth.
Did we take advantage of others?
Did we cheat, lie, steal, hurt, corrupt, murder, polute while we were here?
Or did we try to make things better and did we do our best?
Only He Knows and we will suddenly all remember on the Day of Judgment, but what will it avail us then? It will be too late.
6. what will happen to all the people even today, and definitely throughout history who live in the jungles etc., and lived there life just doing what ever they wanted? why should I have to pray 5 times a day and all these other things living my life SO strictly when they didn't? How is that fair? Will they be judged according to the Quran and sunnah, if so...how were they to know eating pork is haram, having sex without marriage is haram, drinking alcohol is haram...???
Again, as I have already mentioned above, these things would not be a factor for eternity in Hell.
This is only for those who understood the message. And even then, if a person did do these things but then turned to Allah in sincerity and honesty with the commitment to never again do these things, he would be forgiven.
7. How do you know its not all in your head, "Allah lead me to Islam," etc.; because there's millions of people who say "Jesus lead me to Christianity" etc...and you would say , but no...he's just a man, he cant do anything ONLY GOD CAN...if so, then why does God FOOL these people into hell or disbelief -- why??
Prove this one for yourself. Open your heart and mind and be ready for whatever comes.
And then pray directly to the God that Jesus prayed to; His Lord and your Lord, His God and your God.
And that is what every single person who came to Islam, and there are thousands, has said happened to them.
Allah guide them (and me).
Good luck in your studies and may Allah guide you, ameen.
The same person wrote back again, saying very harsh things and not something I'm going to publish. The way the questions came with so much foul language and bad attitude, I wouldn't publish them here.
This is what I replied to him (even after his insults and bad words)
Bismillah - salam alaykum (peace to all who seek guidance):
I would like for you to recall your earlier emails to me. You started out by mentioning that you were interested in Islam and that you had been studying Islam.
My question to you and I don't need to hear the answer - the question is for you - "Were you really telling all of the truth?"
Or are you holding back something here?
In my years of being Muslim, the only time I have ever seen anyone ask such questions in the way that you are doing, is that the person was only playing and not the least bit interested in learning anything about Islam, except to try to put it down and to make problems.
So, ask yourself that question before you read anything else.
You see, the only person that you can really hurt is yourself. Allah will not hold anyone accountable for what others do, unless they participate along with them in some way.
OK?
Now, back to the websites you listed. Why did you do that? What was your motive? Where did you think you were going with this?
Did you see any contradiction between what they said and what I said? Or did you just go looking for something to throw back as though you were some expert in religion?
Heath, or whatever your name is, you said you were serious about Islam. What did you mean by this statement?
You are not showing any signs of spiritual investigation at all. If you had been a Muslim student in one my classes and committed such an act, you would have found yourself staying after class to do some very heavy accountabilty for your actions.
This is something very serious in Islam. When truth and proof are being presented and all you can do is think about how you can make some kind of objection or try to put it down as no value, then you have a problem, a very serious problem.
This is not a joke.
If you really want to learn, fine. Ask questions. Read the answers. If you understand them, good. If not, you can ask for the sources that I took it from. If you still don't understand it or you don't like it, then go to someone else.
Fair enough? Peace!
For more answers to questions & live talks with real scholars, visit www.ChatIslam.com
Any good is from Allah the mistakes were from myself.
May Allah guide all of us to His Truth, ameen.
Salam alaykum - Yusuf Estes
National Muslim Chaplain (now retired)
Answers from Yusuf Estes, National Muslim chaplain (retired), American born, former Christian, a student of many excellent scholars in aqeedah (belief), fiqh (understanding) and Arabic language.
He offers help using authentic information in easy English for questions on Islam and Muslims.
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