"The messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that there is no
god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, to perform the
prayers, to pay the zakat, to fast in Ramadan, and to make the
pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so." He said: " You have
spoken rightly", Jebreel (Gabriel) from Number 2 of " Al-Nawawi's
Forty Hadiths ." 1
"If anyone harms (others), God will harm him, and if anyone
showshostility to others, God will show hostility to him." Sunan of
Abu-Dawood, Hadith 1625.
"Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish
(scriptures), and the Christians...and (all) who believe in God and
the last day and work righteousness, shall have their reward with
their Lord; on them shall be nofear, nor shall they grieve." The
Qur'an, 2:62
"Jim Jones, David Koresh and Meir Kahane do not typify Christianity
and Judaism in the eyes of the civilized West, but those same eyes are
prone to see Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar as typifying
Islam , " Richard Bulliet 2
Webmaster's note about attributing guilt and responsibility:
One of the themes running through some holy books is that
of"scapegoating." 5 This is the concept that guilt and punishment can
be transferred from those responsible for an evil act, to others who
are innocent of that act. This theme is rarely -- if ever -- discussed
in religious homilies or sermons. Yet it seems fundamentally unjust
and evil accordingto every moral code that Ihave seen. By not holding
perpretrators directly responsibility for their actions, innocent
people become marginalized and denigrated.
For example:
*. When some Muslims think of Christianity in America, they think of
Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center in Florida as a
typical Christian. He burned a copy of the Qur'an.
*. When some Christians think of Islam in the Middle East, they think
of Bin Laden or Musab al-Zarqawi, leaders of Al-Qaeda, as typical
Muslims.
They confuse the beliefs or practices of an individual or a small
minority of believers for the entire religion. As one example, in the
minds of many Americans, responsibility for 9/11 terrorist attack has
spread from 19 radical, violent, fundamentalist Muslims and their
Al-Qaida handlers to all 1.6 billion followers of Islam.
We ask our visitors to consider two items whenreading this section of
our website -- and for that matter all of the other 6,000 essays:
*. The irrationality of blaming innocent persons for the sins of atiny
minority within their group. One of this web site's mottos is:"When
some people deviate from reality, others are often hurt."
*. When one refers to any religion or faith
group/tradition/denomination within areligion, we are generally
referring to more than the beliefs and teachings of its founder. The
culture in which the religion developed has generally had a major
impact as well. So, for example, the four main versions of Sharia law
are all based on the Qur'an -- and to a lesserdegree on the Hadith.
However, they have been profoundly influenced by the cultures in which
Islam grew.
About Islam:
Estimates of the total number of Muslims rangefrom 0.7 to 1.8 billion
worldwide and 1.1 to 7 million in the U.S. 3 We accept the best
estimate as 1.57 billion, concluded by the Pew Forums. About 23% of
all people on Earth follow Islam. Thereligion is currently in a period
of rapid growth.
Christianity is currently the largest religion in theworld. It is
followed by about 33% of all people -- a percentage that has remained
stable for decades. If current trendscontinue, Islam will become the
most popularworld religion sometime in the mid-21 st century.
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And Allah Knows the Best!
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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA
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