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("They made not a just estimate of Allah...")
Allah the Almighty said:"They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection, the whole of the earth...
She took patience to get hooked up by a fatherly husband, from whose exemplary responsibleness I was nurtured to be great.
When she conceived of me in that elastically tiny abode, I unavoidably troubled her well-being for not less than...
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The superiority of Tauhid and what it removes of sins
Allah the Most Exalted said: "It is those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah and worship none but Him Alone) and confuse not their belief...
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The above quotes suggest one of two possible scenarios. In the first, “son of God”
can be understood to mean Messiah, King of Israel, “man of God,” “holy one of God,” or
simply a righteous man, for parallel gospels relate these terms as if synonymous. For
example, the demons identified Jesus as “the holy one of God” in one account and “Son
of God” in another, and the centurion identified Jesus as the “Son of God” in Matthew
and Mark, but as “a righteous man” in Luke. So maybe these terms mean the same thing.
In the second scenario, parallel accounts recording the same events in different
words could represent biblical inaccuracy. In either case, there’s a problem. If the
differing terms are synonymous and...
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Return of Jesus
If Jesus Christ were to come today, people would not even crucify him.
They would ask him to dinner, and hear what he had to say, and make fun
of it. —D.A. Wilson, Carlyle at his Zenith
There is one thing upon which Christians and Muslims agree, and that is the
return of Jesus Christ. Interestingly enough, both religions expect Jesus to return in a
victory of faith to defeat the Antichrist, correct the deviancies in religion, and establish
the truth of God throughout the world. Christians expect this truth to echo their evolved
doctrines, whereas Muslims expect Jesus to remain consistent with his...
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Holy Spirit
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. —LaoTzu, Tao Te Ching
Everyone knows the term “Holy Spirit,” but few attempt to define it. Those who
do usually produce a mix of personal opinion and ambiguous, though doctrinally
sanctioned, apologetics. In the minds of most, this “oil and water” theology fails to gel
into a homogeneous reality. The Islamic understanding, on the other hand, is remarkably
concrete, teaching that the “Holy Spirit” is Gabriel, the angel of revelation. When we
come to RûhulQudus in the Holy Qur’an (see ayah...
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It was no empty vow of their elect ones, “to be baptized with the
baptism of Christ, to take on themselves scourgings, imprisonments,
tortures, reproaches, crosses, blows, tribulation, and all temptations of the
world.” Theirs the tears, theirs the blood shed during more than ten
centuries of fierce persecution in the East; and if we reckon of their
number, as well we may, the early puritans of Europe, then the tale of
wicked deeds wrought by the persecuting churches reaches dimensions
which appall the mind. And as it was all done, nominally out of reverence for, but really in mockery of, the Prince of Peace, it is hard...
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Messiah (Christ)
The Old Testament teems with prophecies of the Messiah, but nowhere is
it intimated that that Messiah is to stand as a God to be worshipped. He is
to bring peace on earth, to build up the waste places, to comfort the
brokenhearted, but nowhere is he spoken of as a deity. —Olympia Brown, first woman minister ordained
in the U.S., Sermon of 13 January, 1895.
The concept of Jesus being the predicted messiah is so well known to the world of
Christianity as to obviate...
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Virgin Birth
A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on. —Carl Sandburg, Remembrance Rock
And in the case of Jesus, a baby was God’s determination that revelation should
go on.
A few “progressive” churches have made a ruckus by questioning the virgin birth.
They shouldn’t. It happened. At least, that’s the mainstream Christian and Islamic
opinion.
The Christian viewpoint is well known, although the lack of convincing biblical
detail is frustrating to many. The Islamic teaching is that just as God created Adam from
nothing more than clay, He created Jesus without biological father as a sign to the
people—a miraculous origin portending messianic status. Surah...
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The Protection of Allah's Covenant and
the Protection of His Prophet's Covenant
Allah Almighty said: "And fulfill the Covenant of Allah (Bai'a : pledge for Islam) when you have covenanted, and break not the oaths after...