I have a question for people who practice the Islam.

[Saiyaman]

A friend of mine is studying religion and he told me something interesting. According to the Curan, all religions are basically worshipping the same God (Allah) only the rituals and practices differ. Even stronger, the Curan named Jesus as one of the most important prophets.

So with that being said, if we indeed are all worshipping the same God regardless of what religion we practice, why are Islamic extremists talking about "Infidelity" when talking about Jews and Christians?

How can Jews and Christians be "Unbelievers" when the Curan states that they basically worship the same God?

I was wondering about that, can somebody explain this?

 

[MatthewVett]

Christians and Jews don't realize that Mohammad is God's last and best prophet. Jesus is up there, but Mohammad is best. Just like Jews don't realize that Jesus is the messiah, and Christians consider them a different religion.

Also, I'd note that not "all religions" basically worship the same god. There's a lot of religions out there. Secondly, at what point do you consider gods to be "the same?" Yes, there's a common descent, but English and German are hardly the same language, despite their common origin. It's all well and good to say "Oh, we have the same god let's get along," but they command different things and have different personalities, so really, it only makes sense to call them the same god as it does to call Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle and as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr the same guy.

 

[Lost_Yonder]

A friend of mine is studying religion and he told me something interesting. According to the Curan, all religions are basically worshipping the same God (Allah) only the rituals and practices differ. Even stronger, the Curan named Jesus as one of the most important prophets.

So with that being said, if we indeed are all worshipping the same God regardless of what religion we practice, why are Islamic extremists talking about "Infidelity" when talking about Jews and Christians?

How can Jews and Christians be "Unbelievers" when the Curan states that they basically worship the same God?

I was wondering about that, can somebody explain this?

I wish there was an easy answer to that question! Just as a sidenote - it is either Koran or Qur'an...

Both Jews and Christians are considered "people of the book" and moral, upright Jews and Christians can also go to Paradise. Jesus is considered the "Most Beloved" of God/Allah. Arab Christians pray to Allah, just as French Christians pray to Dieu, and Mexicans pray to Dios - there is no conceived difference of gods, just one God, spoken about in different languages.

The short answer to your question lies not in the Qur'an or any of the Hadith (a collection of sayings and reports about the Prophen Muhammad). The answer lies in the writings of a 13th/14th century Islamic scholar by the name of Ibn Taymiyyah - often constructed as the grandfather of most extremist Islamic ideologies today. He lived in a time of great destruction, when the Mongol hordes conquered most of the "civilized" world - from China and India, to Russia, and the Arab world. Overnight the Arab world was transformed from the height of philosophical, scientific and economic exploration to one of warfare, division, and destruction.

While many of the Mongols who invaded Muslim ruled lands converted to Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah perceived them as "non-Muslims" as they brought with them many cultural practices that weren't Arab in origin. Thus a catagory of "non-believers"/infidels emerged. He further wrote that it was the responsibility of Muslims to then defend the faith by converting or killing the non-believers.

Thus, while defending the faith is spoken about in the Qur'an, it had generally been understood as solely a justification for defence (when there were direct attacks against Muslims, there is a right to defend oneself) or allegorically, that defending the faith meant making oneself a better Muslim (this is how it is generally understood by many, even today, including most, but not all, Sufis).

As in any religion, people can interpret away what one would assume should be a core belief. It happens in Christianity - how many Christians actually turn the other cheek and rather justify attacking others in the name of God/Jesus/Christianity? In Buddhism - in Sri Lanka and Thailand particularly, where the Buddhist clergy preach very narrow, nationalistic interpretations of Buddhism that incite the killing of non-Buddhists in those countries. And on and on...

As I see it, the fault lies not in the religions, but in the feeble and limited minds of men!

 

[3113]

How can Jews and Christians be "Unbelievers" when the Curan states that they basically worship the same God?

I was wondering about that, can somebody explain this?

The first mistake you're making is that you think these religions started out this way--believing that there was one and only one god that everyone worshiped no matter what they called him. No matter what it now says in these holy books, back at the start, all these Bible-based religions involved Monolatrism. Meaning each believed that only one god belonged to their "tribe" but that there were other gods out there that other people worshiped and the trick was to make sure your people didn't convert from your god. Especially with Christians and Muslims, you wanted folk from other tribes to convert to your deity and, thus, join the tribe. That makes sense, doesn't it? And here's the key--psychologically, people still believe this even if the religion they're following says otherwise.

As time went on, and this monotheistic idea took over it stopped making sense. If there is only one god, then logically, everyone is worshiping that god no matter what they call him. But that kills tribal unity under a single religion. So the argument changed from whether one is worshiping the right god to whether one can really believe in that god without believing in his key prophet and doing what his key prophet said to do to worship him.

This goes for Christians, too (Jews still seem to be Monolatrialists to some extent. They really don't care what others in other tribes do, just what those in their own tribe do). Christians also argue that there is only one god, so anyone worshiping god must be worshiping the one-and-only god no matter what they call him. But Christian extremists, like Islamic extremists, make the same assertion: If you don't acknowledge that god's most important prophet was Jesus/Mohammed and do what Jesus/Mohammed presumably said, then no matter how you are worshiping the divine, you haven't really connected to the divine and are, essentially, damned.

That's the whole argument. And trying to make sense of it, especially if argued by religious extremists who will tell you "the Bible/Koran says it, I believe it and that's that!" is absurd. It doesn't make sense, it can never make sense. This is religion, not science. You might as well ask them why a single, all powerful, divine being, who everyone is worshiping no matter what they call him, need prophets at all to announce to people that he's god or to get them to worship him the way he wants to be worshiped. Is there some reason he can't tell each of us this individually? Where's my burning bush?

You begin to see the difficulty in trying to discuss what does not and can not make sense. The premise of any religion is already contradictory, and if we're talking extremists of that religion then logic isn't their strong point. So why even ask how any extremist can call those not in his cult an "infidel" or any other name implying that they aren't worshiping god right or not even worshiping god?

And this doesn't even begin to get around to belief in a devil....

 

[R. Richard]

One problem is that Muslims don't consider Christians to worship the same God, or even just one God. Fundamentalist Muslims believe that the Christian worship of Big Daddy, The Kid and The Spook make Christians polytheists, while Muslims worship only the one God, Allah. The matter is somewhat muddied, as the Koran revers Jesus as a MAJOR prophet. (Read up on the Muslim version of judgement day.)

 

[3113]

The matter is somewhat muddied, as the Koran revers Jesus as a MAJOR prophet. (Read up on the Muslim version of judgement day.)

But prophet is not the same as being the son of god. Prophet just puts Jesus on parr with Moses and Mohammad. A man speaking for god, but not divine himself in any way, shape or form. It makes sense that Islamic extremists would view it a heresy at least to elevate a prophet to that of divinity rather than keeping that prophet a divinely-inspired man. To equate a prophet with god would seem to be creating a second god. And if Islam takes seriously that commandment to have only one god (which, once again, relies on monolatrism ), then any religion that elevates it's cult leader to deity is breaking that law.

And I'm sure it doesn't help that Christians have statues (which Islamic law like Jewish law forbids--we're heading into idol territory there), and Saints which are worshiped as if they were demigods, able to answer prayers as only god ought to be able to do. I honestly see no reason why you think this a muddle. Christianity is built on the foundation of Christ's divinity; there's no being Christian without believing that. And Islam is built on the foundation that no prophet is or has ever been divine. That would seem to make it very clear why Islam would view Christianity as worshiping more than one god and, hence, polytheistic and heretical.

That Christians don't see their worship of Jesus this way is pretty well beside the point. Extremists are, by nature, the sort to shoot first and ask questions later.