[Quran3:64]
Say, "O followers of the scripture, let
us come to a
logical agreement between us and you: that
we shall
not
worship except GOD; that we
never
set up any idols
besides Him,
nor
set up any human beings as lords
beside
GOD." If they turn away, say, "Bear witness
that we are
submitters."
Call on the
Jews
[Quran 2:40]
O Children of Israel, remember My favor,
which I bestowed
upon you, and fulfill your part of the covenant,
that I
fulfill My part of the covenant, and reverence
Me.
[Quran 2:41]
You shall believe in what I have revealed
herein,
confirming what you have; do not be the
first to reject
it. Do not trade away My revelations for
a cheap price,
and observe Me.
[Quran 2:42]
Do not confound the truth with falsehood,
nor shall you
conceal the truth, knowingly.
[Quran 2:43]
You shall observe the Contact Prayers (Salat)
and give
the obligatory charity (Zakat), and bow
down with those
who bow down.
[Quran 2:44]
Do you exhort the people to be righteous,
while
forgetting yourselves, though you read the
scripture? Do
you not understand?
[Quran 2:45]
You shall seek help through steadfastness
and the Contact
Prayers (Salat). This is difficult indeed,
but not so for
the reverent,
[Quran 2:46]
who believe that they will meet their Lord;
that to Him
they ultimately return.
[Quran 2:47]
O Children of Israel, remember My favor
which I bestowed
upon you, and that I blessed you more than
any other
people.
[Quran 2:48]
Beware of the day when no soul can avail
another soul, no
intercession will be accepted, no ransom
can be paid, nor
can anyone be helped.
[Quran 2:49]
Recall that we saved you from Pharaoh's
people who
inflicted upon you the worst persecution,
slaying your
sons and sparing your daughters. That was
an exacting
test from your Lord.
[Quran 2:50]
Recall that we parted the sea for you; we
saved you and
drowned Pharaoh's people before your eyes.
[Quran 2:51]
Yet, when we summoned Moses for forty nights,
you
worshiped the calf in his absence, and turned
wicked.
[Quran 2:52]
Still, we pardoned you thereafter that you
may be
appreciative.
[Quran 2:53]
Recall that we gave Moses scripture and
the statute book,
that you may be guided.
[Quran 2:54]
Recall that Moses said to his people, "O
my people, you
have wronged your souls by worshiping the
calf. You must
repent to your Creator. You shall kill your
egos. This is
better for you in the sight of your Creator."
He did
redeem you. He is the Redeemer, Most Merciful.
[Quran 2:55]
Recall that you said, "O Moses, we will
not believe
unless we see GOD, physically." Consequently,
the
lightning struck you, as you looked.
*2:55 It is noteworthy
that the word "GOD" in this verse
is the 19th occurrence, and this is the
verse where the
people demanded "physical evidence." The
Quran's
mathematical code, based on the number 19,
provides such
physical evidence. Note also that 2+55=57=19x3.
[Quran 2:56]
We then revived you, after you had died,
that you may be
appreciative.
[Quran 2:57]
We shaded you with clouds (in Sinai), and
sent down to
you manna and quails: "Eat from the good
things we
provided for you." They did not hurt us
(by rebelling);
they only hurt their own souls.
[Quran 2:58]
Recall that we said, "Enter this town, where
you will
find as many provisions as you like. Just
enter the gate
humbly, and treat the people nicely. We
will then forgive
your sins, and increase the reward for the
pious."
[Quran 2:59]
But the wicked among them carried out commands
other than
the commands given to them. Consequently,
we sent down
upon the transgressors condemnation from
the sky, due to
their wickedness.
[Quran 2:60]
Recall that Moses sought water for his people.
We said,
"Strike the rock with your staff." Whereupon,
twelve
springs gushed out therefrom. The members
of each tribe
knew their own water. Eat and drink from
GOD's
provisions, and do not roam the earth
corruptingly.
[Quran 2:61]
Recall that you said, "O Moses, we can no
longer tolerate
one kind of food. Call upon your Lord to
produce for us
such earthly crops as beans, cucumbers,
garlic, lentils,
and onions." He said, "Do you wish to substitute
that
which is inferior for that which is good?
Go down to
Egypt, where you can find what you asked
for." They have
incurred condemnation, humiliation, and
disgrace, and
brought upon themselves wrath from GOD.
This is because
they rejected GOD's revelations, and killed
the prophets
unjustly. This is because they disobeyed
and
transgressed.
[Quran 2:62]
Surely, those who believe, those who are
Jewish, the
Christians, and the converts; anyone who
(1) believes in
GOD, and (2) believes in the Last Day, and
(3) leads a
righteous life, will receive their recompense
from their
Lord. They have nothing to fear, nor will
they grieve.
To read more about the Islam's call on Jews, please read the
whole chapter.
Click here for Chapter Two, The
Heifer
_______________________________________________________________________
Related comment from one of our readers along with our reply
Assalym Aleikum,
My name is Sam, I live in Scotland, im 21 years old
and im Jewish. I
lived in London for some time when i met a Muslim who encouraged me to
convert. He gave me the impression, intentionally or not (i think
unintentionally)
that i had to adopt his religion or i'd go to hell. He was very nice and
he gave me
a copy of the Q'uran. I had the fear of God in me as I was reading the Q'uran
until
I came to 2:62. I sighed with relief when I realised that I wouldnt have
to risk
dissapointing by converting (or reverting to Islam) my family in order be
awarded
a place in the world to come. I realised that I could be in a state of Islam
while remaining
Jewish. I have several Muslim friends near where I live and I think of them
and my
Christian friends as brothers/sisters. However very few Muslims, Jews and
Christians etc, sees themselves as being one family. I have read Imams on
other
websites who are ambiguous about whether or not jews/christians can enter
the world to come and I find that attitude worrying.
I know that many Christians believe that only they
can enter Paradise as they take
Christ as their saviour. However contrary to popular belief us Jews do not
think that
we have a monopoly on salvation. The 7 laws of Noah (PBUH) allow for other
valid
Monotheist beliefs such as Islam and Christianity. However I have recently
found out
that many Hindus and Seeks believe that God is one as we do and this would
suggest
that these religions are valid but they are not mentioned in the Q'uran so
I am not too
sure.
I do have some problems with the Zionist attitudes
of many orthodox Jews
that I know and I honestly read the Q'uran very often so that I do not
become narrow minded. I have taken up some aspects of the Islam religion
-
I have stopped drinking and when I move into my own house I will keep a
Kosher home and I will try harder to keep the Sabbath holy - my family are
not very religious.
However I know that I am far from in a state of Islam.
Submission goes
beyond righteousness. I think that we must destroy our own egos and learn
to love ourselves unconditionally for who we are. In western culture it is
difficult to love yourself and I believe that this is one of the greatest
tasks in
life which I am a long way from achieving. When Jesus (PBUH) said
love your neighbour as yourself I think he meant we must love ourselves
and that our neighbours includes absolutely everyone. I think that we must
love unbelievers as much as believers as we are all part of God's creation
and we must serve God - not harm his creation. This is the most difficult
task we all face as it amounts to putting God's will in place of our own.
I
hope that I and all my neighbours can achieve this in our life times.
I do not know who I am writing to but I hope you will
reply even though
I am not asking you anything. I found your website inspirational compared
to alot of the others Ive seen. Do you consider this kind of activity as
your Jihad.
Shalom
Sam
Our reply;
Salamun Alaykum Sam,
it was a great pleasure to receive and read your message.
Our apologies for not responding to you sooner.
As you've correctly assessed by reading the Quran for yourself,
the only criteria for salvation is 1) belief in God, 2) belief in the
Hereafter, and 3) leading a righteous life.
Since the verse reads "ANYONE who?." fulfills these criteria, it shows
that this is applicable to people who call themselves Hindus, Buddhist,etc,
as well.
Anyone who truly fulfills the 3 criteria above will rejoice in new
information from God and accept that information. So even though anyone
who fulfills the criteria above will "make it", God wills to give some people
extra credit and raise them to higher ranks. He does so by giving them more
information and by providing them with powerful tools by which they can
develop their souls.
Below are some examples of verses from the Quran describing this situation.
[28:52] Those whom we blessed with the previous scriptures
will believe in this.
[28:53] When it is recited to them, they will say, "We believe
in it. This is
the truth from our Lord. Even before we heard of it, we were
submitters."
Twice the Reward for Christians & Jews Who Recognize the Truth
[28:54]
To these we grant twice the reward, because they
steadfastly
persevere. They counter evil works with good works, and from our
provisions to them, they give.
God also says that those who attain knowledge attain higher ranks;
[12:22] When he reached maturity, we endowed him with wisdom
and knowledge. We
thus reward the righteous.
[12:76] ..We exalt whomever we choose to higher ranks.
Above every
knowledgeable one, there is one who is even more knowledgeable.
[3:18] GOD bears witness that there is no god except He,
and so do the angels
and those who possess knowledge. Truthfully and equitably, He is the absolute
god; there is no god but He, the Almighty, Most Wise.
We learn from the Quran how to lead a righteous life;
[2:177] Righteousness is not turning your faces towards
the east or the west.
Righteous are those who believe in GOD, the Last Day, the angels, the
scripture, and the prophets; and they give the money, cheerfully, to
the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the traveling alien, the beggars,
and to free the slaves; and they observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and
give
the obligatory charity (Zakat); and they keep their word whenever they make
a promise; and they steadfastly persevere in the face of persecution,
hardship, and war. These are the truthful; these are the
righteous.
It makes sense that since we believe in God we would want to use the best
tools provided for us to come ever closer and closer to Him.
For example, if we find ourselves trying to cut down a tree with a pocket
knife and somebody hands us a chain-saw, why would we want to refuse
that blessing. It is just as logical that we wouldn't refuse help to strengthen
our souls if such a help was offered and provided.
We now know that the Contact Prayers we perform 5 times daily are
numerically structured beyond human capabilities. It is like a combination
of specific sounds that we utter to open up Contact (Salat) with our
Creator, upon which our soul receive nourishment and grows. We need this
nourishment just as we need nourishments to feed our body several times a
day. This ONLY works if we dedicate our prayers to GOD ALONE. As soon
as anything else is associated with God or any other name mentioned in the
prayer or as we worship, the prayer is nullified (4:36,72:18).
A Jewish Rabbi, Rabbi Judah the Pious, discovered a similar fact some 900
years ago, and wrote a few volumes on the subject - the fact that our prayers
are
originally numerically composed and should not be altered in the least.
You find
more information about this fact on our site.
Anyone who gives you an impression that you are going to Hell just because
you call yourself Jewish is ignorant of the above Quranic facts and of the
following Quranic verse.
[7:159] Among the followers of Moses there are those who
guide in accordance
with the truth, and the truth renders them righteous.
You will find that most of those who invite to Islam in this manner, often
condemn other so-called Muslims to Hell if they do not follow the ways
of their specific sect. This in opposition to the Quran who commands
that
there shall be no sects in Submission. God says that those who divide
themselves into sects do not belong with the righteous (6:159, 30:32).
If we all truly worship one and the same God we should have no arguments
with each other. Instead we should love each other. Unfortunately the human
being revere other human beings and idolize them (most of the time against
their will). All messengers and prophets brought the same message - worship
God Alone.
Every time they brought this simple and beautiful message, people started
to worship the messengers and prophets beside God. Then, because of ego,
couldn't accept any new information from God either. This is a tragedy
that has repeated itself through all times.
[16:36] We have sent a messenger to every community, saying,
"You shall worship
GOD, and avoid idolatry." Subsequently, some were guided by GOD, while
others were committed to straying. Roam the earth and note the consequences
for the rejectors.
Thus, ignorance and arrogance are two of the main ingredients in the mess
that people create in the name of religion. Many people are for example
ignorant of the fact that Islam is much much older than the Quran, and that
Abraham was the father of the religion of Islam (22:78). That he was the
one who received all the practices in Islam, and established the Kaaba
in Mecca (21:73).
Congratulations to you for all your efforts
in pleasing God. Giving up
drinking is certainly an important step to take. Being young in todays
society, it's not always an easy thing to do due to all the social pressure.
May God bless you.
As you said we must learn to love ourselves. Being Gods creations we must
remember to be appreciative of all His blessings upon us, and must strive
to protect the rights He has give each and every one of us.
Islam is all for freedom. Freedom to believe what you want, freedom to lead
your life the way you want. How else would we be able to be tested in this
world, and rewarded for doing the right thing? The only limitation to
this freedom must be if it imposes on somebody else's freedom to chose.
You are absolutely right when you say that we have to kill our. This
doesn't mean however that we allow people to treat us as they like.
Part of worshipping God is accepting all of His laws. Those laws state that
all
men and women have rights as well as obligations equitably. Thus, as believers,
those rights must be protected, even when it comes to ourselves. This is
why God says;
[26:227] Exempted are those who believe, lead a righteous
life, commemorate GOD
frequently, and stand up for their rights. Surely, the transgressors will
find out
what their ultimate destiny is.
There is absolutely no law prohibiting us from loving and befriending
people as long as they do not fight us because of our religion (60:8-9).
This is why God commands us not to befriend "His enemies and our enemies"
(60:1). This teaches us that all our love and hate should be in the cause
of God.
Killing our ego simply means that we say "We hear and we obey" to whatever
God is saying, it doesn't mean that we turn the other cheek if people hit
us.
You asked if we consider our activity on the web our Jihad.
Anything we do in the cause of God is part of our Jihad. We learn from the
Quran that the real Jihad is striving to strengthen our souls to the point
where our whole being submits to God alone.
Since God says that none of our worship goes to waste (2:143), we know
that everything we do in His cause will be beneficial to our souls.
[26:89] Only those who come to GOD with their whole heart
(will be saved).
Be sure to study the mathematical composition of the Quran on our site.
It is a proof from God to our generation (74:30-35).
Shalom and Peace
info@submission.org
