Source / Courtesy: Muslim Sunrise By Lubna Roohi Malik The Holy Qur’an lays out three basic states of man. These three states separate man from animals and spiritual men from moral men. These three states are: the natural state, the moral state, and the spiritual state. Man begins in the base, natural state, where he […]
By: Laiq Ahmed Atif, President Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Malta Some time ago, during a discussion with friend, we came to know of a woman from Australia, who’s sole mission was to unite all mankind at one point. I asked him that does she believe in a single entity, the central focus of the universe, – […]
Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD Deism (pronounced /ˈdiːɪzəm/, us dict: dē′·ĭzm) is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe, and that this can be determined using reason and observation of the natural world alone, without the need for either faith or organized religion. President Thomas Jefferson, Thomas […]
This article is to collect different debates between Christians and atheists and to catalog the limitations of both in different debates. Idea is to create Islam as a clear third choice for my readers in the West, Islam as presented by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Often the limitations of atheism that the Christians highlight are […]
Revelation has had a very large role to play in human history. The evidence not only comes from religion but also science. This article was originally published in February 2007 volume of Ahmadiyya Gazette USA. Let me first introduce the subject of revelation in language and examples that are more familiar to my Western readers. […]
This popular Google-knol was first written by me in December of 2009. Atheists are right in exposing the irrationality of the Christian dogma. However, the Christians are right in as far as their claim that there needs to be a Creator of this universe, Who employed natural means to do His work. However, both parties […]
By Richard Allen Greene, CNN (CNN) – Every religion has its true believers and its doubters, its pious and its pragmatists, but new evidence suggests that Muslims tend to be more committed to their faith than other believers. Muslims are much more likely than Christians and Hindus to say that their own faith is the […]
Those who do not understand the paramount necessity of the separation of Mosque-Church and State, have not read their Bible: Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty says: […]
Revelation has had a very large role to play in human history. The evidence not only comes from religion but also science. This article was originally published in June, 2007 volume of Ahmadiyya Gazette USA:
http://www.alislam.org/library/periodicals/index.php
Let me first introduce the subject of revelation in language and examples that are more familiar to my Western readers.
“Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Prof. Mark W Muesse, in his lecture series Confucius, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad, describes the phenomenon of revelation or what others may prefer to call inspiration. He writes:
“I mentioned Bernard Shaw’s play about Joan of Arc, in which she claims to hear voices from god. Later in the play, as Joan is being interrogated for suspicion of heresy, she is asked by King Charles, ‘Why don’t the voices come to me? I am king, not you.’ Joan tells him:
‘They do come to you; but you do not hear them. You have not sat in the field in the evening listening for them. When the angelus rings you cross yourself and have done with it; but if you prayed from your heart, and listened to the thrilling of the bells in the air after they stop ringing, you would hear the voices as well as I do.’
As Joan suggests, there is nothing extraordinary about hearing the voice of God, but one needs to make the effort to listen.
Whether we call what we hear the voice of god or of conscience, the sound of silence or the rhythms of the breath, the lives of our four sages remind us of the necessity to stop and pay attention to our lives. Taking time to be quiet and attending to our lives need not result in some intense, enlightening religious experience. Indeed, such intense moments are rare. But it must be a regular practice, just as Muhammad stopped to pray five times a day and the Buddha meditated in the quiet of each night. It is simply a way to remind ourselves of what is really important, because we forget.”
(Prof. Mark W Muesse. Confucius, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad. The Great Courses transcript book, 2010. Pages 456-457.)
Let me start this presentation with a few verses of the Holy Quran, which are a lighthouse on the issue of there being One Creator, God the Father or Allah: To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and the earth. And those who are in His presence do not disdain to worship Him, nor […]
The Christian apologists often accuse that the Holy Quran is borrowed from the Bible. How can they be disabused of this self indulgence? This article or thread is dedicated to this issue.
The title of this thread is a book by a French surgeon Dr. Maurcie Bucaille and could be described as a commentary of these verses of the Holy Quran:
“The disbelievers say: This Quran is naught but a lie that Muhammad has fabricated, and other people have helped him with it. They have, thereby, perpetrated an injustice and an untruth. They also say: These are fables of the ancients which he has got someone to write down for him and they are recited to him morning and evening. Say to them: The Quran has been revealed by Him Who knows every secret that is in the heavens and the earth. Indeed, He is Most Forgiving, Ever Merciful.” (Al Surah Al-Furqan 25:5-7)
He examined the Holy Quran in the light of modern science and found that ‘The Quran has been revealed by Allah Who knows every secret that is in the heavens and the earth.’
There is an often quoted saying:
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
Islam provides wholesome guidance in all aspects of human life. This volume is devoted to demonstrating the utilitarian value of some of the Islamic teachings.
Alislam-eGazette is an international publication of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community that now goes to 40,000 subscribers each month. Here is the link to subscribe and review the archives.
http://www.alislam.org/egazette
For an interesting comparison with the Christian teachings see the comment below, ‘Turning the other cheek!’
The Holy Quran not only provides rational and utilitarian teachings but also a complete set of guiding principles to lead a fully satisfying life in all necessary human dimensions:
“This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as religion. But whoso is forced by hunger, without being wilfully inclined to sin, then, surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful. ” (Al Quran 5:4)
After centuries of research, technology has created solar panels. The plant kingdom has been converting solar energy into chemical energy in a much more aesthetic manner. The plants are not only solar panels but are also self generating solar panel factories and much more! They are a source of timber, fuel, food and shelter for animals and human. At the end of their useful life the plant kingdom unlike our solar panels does not pose any environmental risk. As you study the technical details and the miracle of photosynthesis in this knol, would you rather support Sir David Attenborough, Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad, or Prof. Richard Dawkins. I extensively quote from these three teachers on this ubiquitous phenomenon of nature. Don’t be shy or timid to take any of these three positions, because, regardless of your pick you will be in good company, in this terrestrial life. For, Immanuel Kant wrote, “Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” If you would rather follow a more celebrated intellectual, “Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations,” wrote Albert Einstein, “There remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion. To that extent I am, in point of fact, religious.” However, if there is a hereafter that may have different implications! The metaphysics of the Holy Quran, explaining the fundamental nature of our being, the world around and the absolute, should not be imposed on human consciousness in some legalistic manner, rather should be appreciated in a poetic imagination. The Holy Quran states that everything in the earth and heaven glorifies the Creator in one form or the other: “He is Allah, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.”(Al Quran (59:25) The Quran also claimed in the 7th century when it was not known whether anything existed between the earth and the heavenly bodies: “He is the Gracious God, Who has settled Himself on the Throne. To Him belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth, and whatsoever is between them, and whatsoever is beneath the moist subsoil.” (Al Quran (20:6-7)
