alhamdulillah alikum peace be unto you
welcome to another episode of the dean
show which is a way of life we try to
put out there for everyone to see
helping you understand Islam and Muslims
and my next guest is one who is well
known in the Muslim Community who has
intensively studied different religions
and and has been active in the dawa for
many years I'm very honored to have him
as our guest here on the dean show
shabir
alium how are you alhamdulillah
fantastic thank you for being with us
today it's my pleasure really so we want
to get straight to the to the topic here
which is Da dawa which is a a a duty on
every Muslim to invite people to this
beautiful Message of Islam can you give
us some advice now where you see many M
Muslims are not fulfilling this Duty can
you elaborate on this a little bit yes
da is a very important responsibility of
of Muslims and yet you are right many
Muslims do not uh understand this as a
responsibility and hence do not fulfill
it but we find in the Quran that uh
there is a direct command from Allah to
the prophet Muhammad sallallahu
alaihi call to the way of your lord and
as much as the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam is our example we have to
follow that example in Surah YF one ay
number2 uh or rather 108 Allah tells the
prophet peace be upon him to say that
this is my way I call to the way of my
Lord with clear evidence I and those who
follow me so it's not only he that does
it but also his followers and if we
claim to be followers of the Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him then
naturally we should be giving that
message as well now you've been doing
daah inviting people to submission and
to surrender to the creator of the
heavens and earth alone without no
partners for many years now what enticed
you to go ahead and study not only your
way of life which is a way of life For
All Mankind but to study Christianity uh
Judaism uh Buddhism what entites you to
do this well in the end we have to say
this is the blessing of Allah on me that
he has uh inspired me or guided me to
follow this path and and to learn about
the world's religions in this way but if
we ask about the natural causes we can
say that uh people came knocking on my
door to uh entice me to follow some
other religion and I've always had a
curious mind I like to get to the bottom
of things it was not enough for me to
just simply say look Islam is the truth
and I'm a Muslim because Islam is the
truth I I wanted to know how true it is
and and in what way is it true and and
and why not something else so I had to
study to satisfy myself that what I
believe really is true and that it can
withstand the attacks and the criticisms
that other others launch against it and
by extension I wanted to study the other
Fates as well to see what the faith
followers present as evidence for the
truth of their own belief systems and to
see whether those pieces of evidence
actually do measure up uh against
scrutiny and and criticism did that
strengthen your even more definitely
because it's it's one thing to say look
I believe but it's another thing to
quietly confidently in in in a laid-back
manner to be able to say look I have
studied whatever is out there and uh I
in the end conclude that what I have is
really the truth uh that is a conviction
that comes uh after looking at the
evidence of course I'm not saying that
all faith is it depends on evidence
there is a certain element of Faith but
that comes after the evidential matters
have been explored so evidence takes us
to a certain extent we can build faith
on top of that but Faith should not be a
replacement for evidence tell us give us
some advice you have a lot of experience
in this
area for the person that wants to do
dawa and now he might have watched some
Ahmed videos and he likes his style or
he watched some other person and you
know these debates that go on between
people of other faiths and Muslims
you've been in a lot of them all right
sometimes ends up like a boxing match so
give us some uh some advice on what's
the best way to go about talking to
someone who is of an other faith in our
modern uh context um when we're dealing
with very literate societies uh people
are are not attracted to the idea of um
the boxing match approach where you know
we try to disprove other faiths and
prove ours to be true uh but there is a
great scope for dialogue and for
understanding the major problem we're
facing is that uh the the vast majority
of Americans for example do not uh
understand much about Islam and what
they know about Islam just ain't so and
our uh responsibility then is to convey
to them the message in a way that is
palatable that they can understand and
appreciate and dialogue sometimes uh
gives us the opportunity dialogues give
us the opportunity to present the
message when they're listening if we had
just simply a lecture and we invited
people to come out they may not have but
if we have a dialogue it is already
understood that people of both Fates
will be coming out and should be coming
out and the supporters of the other uh
speaker will naturally come to the event
and that will give them an opportunity
to hear directly from a Muslim Imam for
the first time perhaps
a positive presentation of The Message
of Islam more than this it often is such
that the the other speaker though a
Christian may already have studied Islam
to a certain extent and appreciate some
features of Islam and that person may
actually tell his audience uh the degree
to which he already appreciates Islam
and his audience may never have expected
that this could be a Christian response
to Islam they might have thought that as
Christians they have to NE necessar
reject everything Islamic and and when
their Pastor or preacher or Minister
tells them that from his own study he
has come to appreciate certain aspects
of Islam that already uh is a message in
favor of us and uh it already relieves
us of some of the burden of having to
explain this from
scratch now tell me I get very excited
because the message of submission and
surrender to the creator of the heavens
and the Earth is very simple it fits
like a glove to what you have already
embedded in you inside it brings solid
to the heart and I'm very Earnest about
delivering this in a very simple way
because the message is simple now what
do you do when you come across someone
who you know that when that person has
hasn't been exposed really and when you
tell him don't you agree that the
Creator is one that you worship him
alone he's like yes yes and you know
it's very simple to to communicate with
a person like this but on the flip side
when somebody has studied Islam now and
it seems like his
intentions are somewhat off he takes
snapshots of the Prophet the last and
final messenger of mankind of prophet
Muhammad peace be upon Him snapshots of
his life and he'll start quoting you
certain Hadi certain things out of
context and it looks like he's trying to
maybe shake your faith or the faith of
the Muslim you've come across people
like this how do you deal with them sh
well sometimes it's a quicker
explanation
um of their of their um questions or or
a simple answer to their questions is
really uh to refer to the scriptures
that they already believe in uh it is
said that uh the best uh defensive is
often a well calculated offensive and um
you see if if somebody wants to be
critical and and and
hypercritical and uh just wants to find
faults then sometimes it doesn't matter
how much or how well you answer them it
never it never budges from where they
started uh with their questioning so if
you turn the tables around and started
asking them about certain passages of
the scriptures that they already believe
in then that helps matters very simply
let me put it to you this way uh the
Quran has a verse which speaks about the
cutting of the of the hands of the
thieves both male and female so many
launch an objection against Islam on
this score saying that this is a
barbaric practice now I'm not saying
what should be done in our modern
context here and if I were to answer the
question I would I would go into the
details of this but if I'm dealing with
somebody who doesn't really want to hear
the answer and just wants to find fault
with Islam I might point out that in the
book of Deuteronomy in chapter
25:1 uh it says that if a if two men are
struggling with each other and a woman
were to grab uh the the
other man uh by a certain area in
defense of her own husband then you are
to cut off her hand and show her no
mercy well uh here we have a Biblical
verse about the cutting off of a hand
for a certain reason and and one might
say that this does not seem to be a very
good reason because in a situation like
that naturally the woman would rush
forward to help her husband and and it
seems that her offense was that she
grabbed the other man where she was not
supposed
uh whereas the the Islamic
requirement as was traditionally done of
cutting the hand of the thief was for
the purpose of ensuring the Safety and
Security of all citizens in an area uh
and and the rationale for that seems uh
well based on on reasonable grounds uh
so answering it with reference to the
biblical verse uh just simply closes the
issue very quickly rather than having to
go into a long
explanation we'll come into close I
wanted to let you for our viewers
non-muslims who are tuning in for the
first time to the dean show and you know
what they like what we have to say and
they want to know more about Islam can
you first deliver the message real
simply plainly as I had talked about to
the non-muslim explain to them what the
main Message of Islam is and then how
they can actually contact you and you
have a website that they can visit for
more information also sure well The
Message of Islam Islam simply folks is
that there is only one God all
philosophical arguments regarding uh
proofs for the existence of God actually
point to the belief in one God uh the
biblical prophets whether we speak of
Abraham or Moses or Jesus they all spoke
about the belief in one God in the book
of Deuteronomy 6:4 Moses spoke of one
God In The Gospel According to mark 12:
27 Jesus speaks of one God and the
prophet Muhammad and whom be peace was
inspired by God to deliver a message
that there is only one God and he was
obviously the messenger of that one God
it is from his message uh that uh Islam
now comes to be established the religion
of Islam then is simply based on that
belief that was already established by
reason and confirmed by divine
revelation given to God's prophets uh
over time the Quran is a book revealed
to the prophet Prophet Muhammad on whom
be peace a divine revelation as a
guidance to all humankind and it is to
this book that we invite you we ask you
to have a chance to read the book of God
and find out for yourself that God
really speaks to you through this book
if you'd like more information you can
contact me by visiting a website on
which my articles are posted www.
islamin Doom Islam info I S L A M I N
Foo
she thank you very much for being with
us we look forward to having you again
it's my pleasure for your excellent work
you and help you work the pr thank you
you too and I like to thank everybody
for tuning in to the dean show remember
every week here the Deen show.com t h
Deen show.com we bring you a new show
every week thank you for tuning in and
we'll see you again next time Asam
peace be unto
[Music]
you may Allah's peace mercy and
blessings be upon you welcome once again
to your show the dean show to this part
of it mailbag where we answer your
questions today's question is an
interesting question and in light of
perhaps what may what some may have
heard or seen of different public
figures having said all religions are
the same this questioner asks aren't all
religions the same good question it's a
really good question the reality is this
in Islam we believe that the origins of
all these religions were the same
meaning that the ultimate absolute truth
is that there is only one God Allah in
the Arabic The One unique
God he Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah
the
glorified the most
high he is the same one who has created
man and has intended for man a noble
purpose in
creation and because of that it is he
who sent to mankind different prophets
and Messengers
with a message Revelation calling them
all to that
Divine manual that Divine guide of how
we should live life so that we can
maximize unhappiness in this world
internally and externally and likewise
even more importantly in the Life
Hereafter and so each and every Prophet
came with the same teaching the same
religion or way of life
known in Arabic as Islam and that is
complete voluntary submission to the one
God and in doing so you the servant of
God the living the most merciful attain
inner happiness and peace and salvation
in the Hereafter however
mankind is the person who has changed
the actual teachings and this is where
we get the different religions from
mankind is the one who actually took the
original pure pristine Revelation and
message and adulterated it corrupted it
changed it to suit their desires their
wants instead of it being in accordance
with their needs which was the actual
Revelation the message that God Almighty
sent for them and so in origin all
religions came from the one God were
basically the same main message of
messages of belief in the one God living
a life of righteousness obeying his
Commandments refraining from the
prohibitions emulating the messenger the
prophet that was sent to you and in
doing so you will have happiness in this
world and salvation Eternal Bliss and
Par in Paradise in the
Hereafter but since the reality is that
all of these different religions have
changed and that's why if we were to
compare them you'll find that each one
has its own Creed it has its own dog of
beliefs and acts of worship that make it
different from others not only that but
you'll find that even within a religion
you'll have different denominations or
sects that have formed from them and so
if we realize that we'll come to see
that they're not all the same they're
not all spokes on the same Rim leading
to the same core
God perhaps that would be a nice thing
and perhaps it's a view that may bring
something of of Hope or happiness to a
person but we need to be true to
ourselves can a person who for example
believes that the cow is God and
therefore it is Holy and that you cannot
and is divine and that you cannot in any
way harm it be equal to a person who
enjoys having beef burgers and Stakes
seeing that there's no problem with it
can we equate for example Hinduism with
what we find of Judaism Christianity and
Islam where they hold the cow to be
divine and therefore they cannot in any
way harm it and they're inundated with
cows where they can't even sell it to to
different markets to make money off of
it because they would be selling their
God where with us it's something that we
can do and then take a look at these
three monotheistic abrahamic
faiths you'll see that even within them
there's differences that make them stand
apart in Judaism and Islam we believe
that the Oneness of God
is uncompromising absolute one there is
no belief in God having a son that Jesus
is his son and that there's a third part
of this this godhead of the Holy Ghost
or the Holy
Spirit and at the same time when you
look at what Islam itself teaches you'll
find that there are some core
similarities but the general greater
picture itself you'll find that it's
very different you'll find that perhaps
all of these religions may have same
teachings where they profess belief and
love in God or some gods and to live a
life of righteousness to worship to do
things and to pre prevent yourself or to
refrain from other things but at the
core you'll find
that salvation can only be
one salvation can only be when you truly
submit and surrend yourself to God's
will to God's
teachings and if you look at these
religions you will find that they have
been changed they are distorted their
messages are not the original messages
therefore they themselves are no longer
applicable today and this is why we
believe as God Almighty himself tells us
that only the revelation of the Quran is
to remain pure is to remain uncorrupted
and it's not because Muslims are special
people that they're the ones who've done
this because God Almighty himself who
intended the final Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alaihi wasallam Allah's peace
and blessings be upon him and the final
Revelation that he accompanied the
Quran that God Almighty himself would
preserve it would protect it so that no
one would mess with it that no one would
be able to corrupt it and that if they
did the backups the security measures
are so stringent so strong so
wellestablished and built in that those
individual efforts would have no effect
upon the whole why because Islam as it
is now through the final Prophet it
would have to remain this way until the
end of days until the day of
judgment and so this is why brothers and
sisters if you were to look at and
compare Islam with the others you will
realize that they are not all the same
that they are not all the same at all
because if you take the shahada the
testimony of Faith the main thing that
must be said professing what you should
believe in your heart that there is is
only one God and that Muhammad is his
prophet and messenger what other
religion tells you to affirm those two
none except for Islam and to believe in
one God Alone is not enough because
without the proper guidance without the
proper understanding and that
understanding is only with the final
prophet and messenger then you'll be
worshiping God based upon what your
rationale based on upon what your
feelings on your emotions on what your
father's have done in the past upon what
your pastor priest uh whoever it is of
of of religious figure tells you or
shows you how would you know then what
Clarity do you have and so because of
this we say that all religions are not
the same and that the way to God is only
one way it has always been only one way
and it will continue to only be one way
and that is the straight path to him the
path of humbly voluntarily lovingly
living your life according to the
teachings the final teachings that he
sent with his final prophet and
messenger this is Islam the complete way
of life thank you very much and until
next
time peace be with
[Music]
you