Q13. Is it not true that every
child is born with 'original sin' as the Christians
believe?
A13. No. Even the Bible rejects
this concept, and it is contrary to the teachings of
Jesus (peace be upon him) . To quote the Bible, for
example:
"The soul that sinneth, it
shall die. The son shall not bear the inequity of the
father, neither shall the father the inequity of the son;
the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and
the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." [Ezekiel
18:20]
"But every one shall die for his own iniquity"
[Jeremiah 31:30]
'Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like
children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven..."
[Matthew 18:3]
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid
them not, to come to me; for such is the kingdom of
heaven." [Matthew19:14]
It is clear that little children
are sinless; they do not inherit sin, because sin is
something that is acquired by an individual, as a
consequence of his/her actions.
Q14. How about a non-Muslim who
embraces Islam?
A14. By embracing Islam, in fact,
a person receives the greatest blessing of God. The All-Forgiving
and Most-Merciful God forgives all the past sins and
mistakes of such a person and he/she starts his/her life
with a clean slate, as if born again. The Holy Qur'an
says:
"Say to the unbelievers, if (now)
they desist (from unbelief), their past would be forgiven."
(8:38)
"Say: 'O my servants who have transgressed against
their souls! Despair not of the mercy of God surely God
forgives all sins; verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Most
Merciful." (39 : 53)
According to a saying of the
Prophet (peace be upon him):
"If a person embraces Islam
sincerely, then God shall forgive all his past sins, and
after that the reward of his good deeds will be ten times
to seven hundred times, and an evil deed will be recorded
as it is unless God forgives it."
Q15. Will a new Muslim be inferior
to a person born to Muslim parents?
A15. No. On the contrary, a new
Muslim could be better than many born Muslims. Islam
teaches that no person is superior over any other person
on the basis of birth, race, tribe, nationality,
language, color, wealth or sex. The Holy Qur'an says:
"... Verily, the most honored
of you in the sight of God is the one who is most God-conscious..."
(49: 13)
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him), in his historical farewell sermon, had said:
"O people! Verily your Lord
and Sustainer is One and your ancestor is one. All of you
descend from Adam, and Adam was made of clay. There is no
superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for a non-Arab
over an Arab, neither for a white person over a black,
nor a black person over a white, except through God-consciousness.
Indeed the noblest among you is the one who is most God-conscious.'
Q16. Can Islam also be called
"Muhammedanism" and Muslims as "Muhammedans"?
A16. No. These terms (coined by
non-Muslims, orientalists) are without any basis. Muslims
reject them as these terms offend the very spirit of
Islam. Muslims do not worship Muhammad (peace be upon him)
but regard him as a human who was a Prophet and Messenger
of God; nor is Islam limited to Muhammad (peace be upon
him) alone, but goes much beyond this and recognizes all
other Prophets of God with respect and reverence.
Q17. Is "Islam" not a
new religion founded started by Muhammad (peace be upon
him)?
A17. No. Islam, as a matter of
fact, is the oldest religion. Muhammad (peace be upon him)
never claimed that he brought to the people a new
religion. The Holy Qur'an mentions:
"The same religion He has
established for you as that He enjoined on Noah - that
which We have revealed to you (O Muhammad) - that which
We enjoined on Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, that ye
should remain steadfast in religion and make no divisions
therein." (42:13)
"Say ye: 'we believe in God, and that which has been
revealed to us, and that which was revealed to Abraham,
and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob and the Tribes, and
that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and to the
Prophets from Lord; we make no distinction between one
and another of them, and to Him we submit (in Islam)'."
(3:84)
Q18. If Islam is the oldest
religion and all the Prophets were Muslims, then why
there are so many religions in the world?
A18. The Muslims believe in one
God, one source of guidance and one basic message for all
of mankind (that there is none worthy of worship except
the One and Only God). Being the caring Creator and
Sustainer of all mankind, God cannot be partial to choose
one nation to the exclusion of all others for revealing
His messages. He raised Prophets in every nation to guide
the people to the path of Truth and righteousness. The
Qur'an states:
"There is not a nation but a
warner has passed among them" (35:24)
"And for every nation was a messenger." (10:47)
With the passage of time the
followers of earlier Prophets gradually started deviating
from the original teachings. Ideologies and practices
that were strange to the original teachings crept into
the religion, unintentionally or deliberately, and the
purity of belief in God was lost. However, God kept
sending Prophets from time to time to remind them of the
Truth and bring them back to the right path, which they
had lost. But none of these Prophets claimed that they
started a new religion. Some people (the Truth-seekers)
listened to them, corrected themselves and became Muslim,
while others remained arrogant in their false pride and
stuck to the baseless practices and traditions. As
regards the names of so many religions:
These names have no
particular significance; they were simply derived
after the name of a person as in the case of
Christianity which was named after Christ,
Buddhism after Buddha; or after the name of a
tribe like Judaism after the tribe of Judah; or
after the name of a place, like Hinduism after
Hind (a variation of Sindh, Indus in English).
But the name "Islam" represents the
central principle of God's religion: total
submission to the will of God. It is an
attributive title, a name with great meaning.
These names were not given
by God, or the Prophets of God, or even by their
followers; these were adopted by the people
outside the faith, like the name Christianity
which was first referred to by the Pagans and the
Jews in a derogatory manner. But the name "Islam"
was given by God.
These names were adopted
not during the lifetime of the respective
Prophets but much later.
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