Short Clips From A Beautiflul Interview

[HamzaTR]

Who is Allah? Is He the same God as the God of Jews or Christians? 

 

 

 

What similarities does Islam have to Christianity and Judaism?

 

 

 

What is the Muslim view on Mary and Jesus?

 

 

 

Why does God demand so many sacrifices/hardships from his people?

 

 

 

to see more please visit http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2GledsAJtlmqzeCbNe0KTTWPhCwZ-d40

[Son of Placid]

I'd like to know which Bible he gets the idea John the Baptist is described as not touching wine.

Also  "the feast of Cana" was just a wedding in Cana.

 

Without going into detail, "woman" was not a derogatory term. Just read one more verse and see if Mary ran away crying or what she did.

 

 

The word "wine" , oinos in the Greek was a word used for the juice of grapes whether it be fresh, fermented, or condensed down to a sugar. There's no reason to believe the wine that was made from water was fermented, nor that Jesus would make more alcohol for an already intoxicated crowd.

 

You see, It's not the writers of the NT that paint such a bad picture of Jesus, it's actually Muslims doing that so they can tell you how terrible/awful Christians are, and how far gone they are in their corrupted religion.

 

The idea that Jesus would add to the intoxication of the crowd is as bad as thinking Jesus and his disciples came and drank it all thus causing the shortage.

 

Other than that I would have clicked on like, ;)

[HamzaTR]

Salam. It is nice you liked the videos in general even though you do not agree on every matter with him.. I do not agree with him on the aspect of wine either.. But, our disagreement is not the same.. I will explain it later.. But, the point is, I can not read his mind and tell you if it was his aim to give bad image of christianity, thus claim the superiority of islam (on the contrary, I saw many of his other videos where he interpreted christian beliefs in a way overlapsing with islam. And he is teaching the fact that Islam is the fulfilment, completion of the religion.). But, maybe, in this wine case he understood the incidents recorded in texts that way.. With no bad intention.. I wouldn't know.. But I do know, each and every one of us should question our own aim in interpretations, right? Sometimes we get busy criticizing others, and we forget ourselves.. And it is not limited to interpreting Bible.. I saw some posts on this subforum and on the whole forum also, where Quranic verses were quoted and interpreted in a wrong way for the same agenda.. So, we should be just, right? We should condemn such attitudes in both sides, especially we should focus on ourselves..

 

Ok. I believe all of us can make mistakes.. In studying texts, as you mentioned for the Bible, we should not first have certain agenda and try to interpret the text according to our belief.. We should try to understand what they truly mean.. And it goes for the Holy Quran also. Don't you agree? While studying the Quran, we should ask those who know better to get a more sacred view instead of interpreting it according to our own likes and dislikes (either to use them to confirm our beliefs, or to interpret it in an unacceptable way in order to deny and reject it).. So, we should be fair.. And we should study everything about texts.. the reason of revelations, the conditions, the necessities of the time.. etc. the applications of the laws by the living scriptures (the men of God; Anbiya/Prophets, Aimmah/Imams and Awliya/Saints).. So, we should study all that and we should also ask those who know.. That's why we believe, we should refer to Prophet Muhammad and his Ahlulbayt and the students of their school of thought for the interpretation of Quran.. Right? And we really would like to study Quran with you here, if you agree :) And anyone who is interested could join..

 

Ok.. back to the wine issue.. Prophet Yahya/John not touching wine is mentioned in Luke, 1:15

"For he will be one of the Lord’s great men. He must never touch wine or hard liquor—and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from before his birth! "

 

So, respected Hajj Hassanain Rajabali did not misquote the text..

 

But, I do not agree with him and most of other believers in this issue.. I believe, wine was permitted for some time.. And I believe as the Quran states, Sunnatallah (the traditions of God) and Kalimatillah (the Words of God) do not change but the reflections of Sharia and Ahkaamillah (the application of the laws of God) change according to time and conditions of the people..

 

Here's a quote from Said Nursi I like;

 

 

"Sacred laws change according to the ages. Indeed, in one age different prophets may come, and they have come. Since subsequent to the Seal of the Prophets, his Greater Shari'a is sufficient for all peoples in every age, no need has remained for different laws. [...]

 

Just as clothes change with the change of the seasons and medicines change according to dispositions, so sacred laws change according to the ages, and their ordinances change according to the (conditions and) capacities of peoples. Because the secondary matters of the ordinances of the Shari'a look to human circumstances; they come according to them, and are like medicine.

 

At the time of the early prophets, since social classes were far apart and men's characters were both somewhat coarse and violent, and their minds, primitive and close to nomadism, the laws at that time came all in different forms, appropriate to their conditions. There were even different prophets and laws in the same continent in the same century. Then, since with the coming of the Prophet of the end of time, man as though advanced from the primary to the secondary stage, and through numerous revolutions and upheavals reached a position at which all the human peoples could receive a single lesson and listen to a single teacher and act in accordance with a single law, no need remained for different laws, neither was there necessity for different teachers."

 

 

There are terms in quran which sadly most people do not differentiate.. Three of them are Sunnah.. Kalimah.. Hukm..

 

About Sunnatallah (traditions of God); I don’t think I should explain the term sunnah/tradition.. But, I just want to say, in Quran it is USUALLY mentioned after narrating the stories of the previous nations with stress on how good-doers are rewarded and evil-doers are punished.. And, Allah says, this is my tradition and you won’t find a change in it. (please see ; 17/77; 33/38,62; 35/43; 48/23; 40/85; 35/43 etc. together with the verses before and after them)

 

But, about Kalimaatillah (words of God); as you know, the term, WORD, in Quran is used with lots of beautiful meanings. With the term Word, God means, the religion of Islam (e.g. 6/115), Quran (e.g., 7/158, 9/6), wisdom and gnosis showing the path to truth (e.g. 2/37), Tawhidi and Nabawi (unitarian/monotheist and prophetic) school and line (e.g. 43/28), ideology and school of thought (e.g. 9/40), etc. And the term Word includes the speech of God that is heard (e.g. Quran) but is not limited to it.. There is also words that can be seen and felt.. The words of God in flesh, [e.g. Jesus (3/45); Prophet Muhammad and Ahlulbayt; (e.g. 14/24-25)], and they never seperate from each other (as mentionjed in hadith al-thaqalain)..

 

However, Ahkaamillah (rules, i.e. jurisprudance) change.. And many verses in Quran are about this.. They mention laws.. And Quran clearly states, the laws change.. An example would be Quran 4:160 ‘For the iniquity of the Jews We made unlawful for them certain good and wholesome which had been lawful for them;- in that they hindered many from God's Way’.. Yes, certain things were prohibited to them because of their stubbornness, or in Biblical words, because of their playing the harlot.. Yes, a punishment, but surely with the aim of teaching.. Like a time-out.. And, if such rules were removed again, when the time-out ends, it would not mean contradiction.. (It still is confirmation).. Because, when you think of it, penalties and retributions and sentences when completed or forgiven, are naturally removed.. That is, e.g. when Jesus came as a mercy to the people, such laws, and the so-called laws which were added by Rabbis to the religion, were meant to be removed.. But, some (e.g. jews) denied Jesus and are being still punished.. But, it is not a divine punishment that would teach them and purify them.. It is a punishment that they place on themselves by denying the mercy of God..

 

Ok. As you Christian-Muslim brethren use the word Father metaphorically for God, I want to give an example on parenting. When your child becomes naughty, you mention time-out, and let’s say forbid video games to him/her for a few days. It is not that the video games changed in essence and became bad.. Right? And later you let him play again if he becomes a good obedient boy. And later he grows up, and he feels he does not need to play video games and he should be active in much important issues, as he is not a kid any more. Again, it does not mean the video games changed. It means he does not have time for childish things any more. Likewise, when jews were disobedient, certain things like wine were prohibited to them. And Jesus was meant to remove them for the good boys. None of the these laws change the essence of wine. The wine is still wine. lol. And one of the verses on wine and gambling in Quran, (Baqarah: 219) says, “..Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit."” If wine were totally evil, it would not have been allowed for certain days (with the ruling of Prophet Jesus until the end of the first stages of teaching and raising of the people by the Holy Prophet Muhammad). Yes, the essence of the wine does not change (it has good and bad sides. It has benefits and harms. But its harm is more than its benefit), but the jurisprudance on the wine changes according to the time and the conditions of the people. For jews hindered many from God’s way (as in being snakes lying on a treasure, not benefiting from the treasure, nor letting people benefit from it), the wine and other things were banned to them in order to teach and discipline them. Later with Jesus (asm) it was removed for believers (Christians).. And with the Holy Prophet Muhammad (asm), people were meant to grow, they should not have the time for such things.. They need to grow up.. They need to be sober, in oder to think and pray always.. ‘Do not approach prayer while you are intoxicated’ (Quran, 4:43) and later another verse (Quran, 5:90) bans it totally in order for humanity to become wholly mature, in order for their whole time (their every speech and action) become a prayer with soberness.. I hope I make sense..

 

Again, this is my personal view, that I believe, traditions of God (as in creation, and as in his method and approach in shaping his creation, the rewarding and punishments) and the words of God (as in basic teachings of his living scriptures, the method of Prophets and Imams) do not change, but the reflection and application of secondary laws (not the main laws) change according to time and place. Again, this is my personal view. Sorry for rambling. Thanks. Ma salam

[Son of Placid]

Thanks Hamza, Not rambling, I enjoyed the read. I agree that these laws have changed. We know God is unchanging but it would be wrong to hold Him to the rigidity of the OT in these modern times. We have so many rules now that they conflict with each other and the original reasoning is lost.

Also thanks for correcting me with Luke 1:15. It's a bad sign when you start forgetting your own text, :blush:

My only real poke at this probably went unnoticed by most for the simple reason they are used to hearing this, but I'm obviously not.

 

When I moved from small town Ontario into Montreal I was considered a small town boy. I was never called a Frenchman until I moved to Calgary. Possibly if I move again I'll be known as the redneck Albertan. In each case, the consensus is that wherever I came from was not as intelligent as those where I moved to, thus the superiority.

I may open myself up to the most obvious of thoughts here but anything Muslim (other than the Quran itself) portrays Christians as suffering from some form of retardation because of some of the most ridiculous and illogical beliefs possible. Sorry but you still have to allot the average Christian with a 100 IQ.

 

I also agree we must research our beliefs, but when it's black and white and written clearly in the word of God we don't need to find someone who would alter it for any reason. Sometimes we rely on others to do our studying for us and end up missing what God wanted to reveal to us.

 

I would believe the end result of our personal views is almost identical. Only the means by which we understand it differs. That's culture, climate, language, on and on.

 

Salam