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In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
One Way
Br Amir Kia
Which way should I go? Which religion is the right religion? if all the major religions say they believe in God, why don't they all call themselves one name and be united? How can so many people pray to the same God and then call themselves different names such as Christian, Jewish or Muslim?
The overall message of the Quran and the Bible is to worship God alone. For example, one of the most important commandments in the Bible is to worship God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul. The Quran confirms this absolute worship of our Creator and serves to consolidate all the messages delivered by all of God's messengers into one global message - total submission to God.
Anyone who devotes his or her worship' absolutely to God alone is a submitter or monotheist and is following Submission. This religion can be traced back to the time of Abraham who was one of God's prophets and a submitter. The major religions we see today that seem to be very different from each other all come from the religion of Abraham. God invites us to follow this one religion and not to divide ourselves into disputing groups and sects. In the Quran we read:
3:95 Say, "God has proclaimed the truth: You shall follow Abraham's religion -monotheism He never was an idolater."
3:84-5 Say, "We believe in God, and in what was sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Abraham, Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs, and in what was given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets from their Lord. To Him alone we are submitters." Anyone who accepts other than Submission as his religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter, he will be with the losers."
Unfortunately, since the time of Abraham, we have not managed to keep our unity and have divided God's absolute religion of Submission into bits and pieces. What is even more disturbing is the fact that all these different bits and pieces are convinced that they have the right answer and all others will end up in a terrible place called Hell. Some of these people are so confident about their belief that they kill in the name of their religion. Of course, we know that these actions are in no way related to the peace and tolerance we gain when we submit to God. The Quran has interesting verses about the people who are convinced about their way:
2:135 They said; You have to be Jewish or Christian, to be guided. Say, "we follow the religion of Abraham-monotheism - he never was an idol worshiper."
2:111 Some have said, "No one will enter Paradise except the Jews or the Christians!" Such is their wishful thinking. Say, 'Show us your proof if you are right" Indeed, those who submit themselves absolutely to God alone while leading a righteous life will recieve recompense from their Lord; they have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve. "
God teaches us in the Quran why we have so many different religions instead of one common religion. We learn in the Quran that divisions and sects in religion develop as soon as we deviate from worshipping God alone by giving importance to man-made doctrines rather than holy scripture or by relying on other than God for our guidance and worship.
Why should the Protestant be different than the Catholic or the Shi'ite different than the Sunni? Don't they all pray to the same God? What could have possibly happened from the time of Abraham until now to create these divisions? If we retrace our steps back to the religion of Abraham we can uncover the purity of Abraham's message - submission to God alone. Somewhere along the way, we must have relied on the opinions of others to bring us closer to God instead of relying on the power of our own absolute worship of God alone. We must have forgotten that the shortest and most simple way to worship and praise our Creator is through direct communication. The same direct communication that Abraham, Jesus. Moses, Muhammad and all of God's prophets practiced and preached.
Instead of focusing our time and energy on worshipping God, we have been preoccupied by trying to convince each other why Moses is better than Muhammad or if Saint Peter is more special than Saint Paul. We must remember that God judges us by our actions and conduct not by the name of our religion. We strengthen our faith in God and become closer to our Creator through our direct worship. This direct worship is the essence of Submission and should be the common focus of all religions.
3:64 "Say, "0 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..."
By Fernan Nadenad
Did you ever wonder why we are here? Are we here just for school? Or just for raising a family? What about after we die? Well, it all started with the Great Feud in the Heavenly Society in which we all once lived with God. Satan had the idea that he could be a god besides God. God exposed Satan's idea by creating a human and telling all the angels to prostrate before him. The name of this human was Adam. All of the angels obeyed God and fell prostrate except for Satan because he felt he was better than Adam. God then exiled Satan to the planet earth and gave him a chance until the day of resurrection to convince all the humans that he could be a god besides God. Satan then swore to God that he would send all the human beings astray, except for those who would worship God alone.
God then said that he would fill hell with Satan and all those who would follow him.
So, the main reason God created us is to give us another chance to see which god we would choose and to test us to see if we are God's true worshipers or one of Satan's followers. We have had two chances already and this is our third and final chance to pass the test and go to heaven. After you ask yourself the question, why am I here, ask yourself what should I be doing with my life. Remember, school and family are important, but passing our major test is the most important goal, that we must achieve. But to reach that goal you must remember that worshipping God is the key to all happiness and if we accomplish this God guarantees victory to us. It is our choice if we want to go to God's kingdom or go to Satan's. Where would you rather be for eternity?
15:39-50 " He (Satan) said, "My Lord, since You have willed that I go astray, I will surely entice them on earth; I will send them all astray. Except those among Your worshipers who are devoted absolutely to You alone." He (God) said, "This is a law that is inviolable. You have no power over My servants. You only have power over the strayers who follow you. And Hell awaits them all It will have seven gates. Each gate will get a specific share of them. As for the righteous, they will enjoy gardens and springs. Enter therein, peaceful and secure. We remove all jealousy from their hearts. Like one family, they will be on adjacent furnishings. Never will they suffer any fatigue therein; never will they be evicted therefrom Inform My servants that I am the Forgiver, Most merciful And that My retribution is the most painful retribution."
God is Awesome !!!
By Amir Kia
Imagine if you had a car and wanted to drive from California to New York. How long would it take you? Well, you would drive for about 3,000 miles and would take you about a week. Let's suppose you could use that same car and drive to the sun. After about 65,000 days of non-stop driving at 60 miles per hour , you would reach the sun which is about 93 million miles away. How about if you wanted to drive to the closest star you see in the sky at night. Do you have any idea how far you would need to drive and how long it would take you? The closest star you see at night is about 25 trillion mites away and you would be in your car for over 400 BILLION days of non-stop driving to get there. Make sure the trunk of your car is filled with snacks!
Did you know that there are billions and billions of stars like the one you
see at night and that these stars are trillions and trillions of miles farther
away than the ones you see at night. These stars make up whet is called the
Milky Way galaxy.
Guess what?
there are millions of galaxies like the Milky Way. The only difference is
that these galaxies are even larger with even more stars.
All these galaxies
are part of our universe which is the smallest of SEVEN universes. To show
us how powerful and great He is, God gives us an example that He holds the
SEVEN universes in His right hand, just imagine what the rest would be like!
Can you imagine what it must be like to stand before God on the Day of judgment? How about having to stand in front of God and trying to explain why you lid not take the time to pray or give thanks for all that you were given? How about trying to explain why you made your job, money, or insignificant possessions a priority? All our praises must be to God, Lord of the Universe!
DEAR ADAM & CHANCEILOR
I am a young adult and a practicing submitter. Having read the Quran, I know the importance of respecting your parents. However, my father criticizes the traditional Islam he has grown up with and in turn uses this understanding to criticize my beliefs. Although he has backed off recently, in the beginning his verbal attacks were very strong. I feel I can't engage in a religious conversation with him to inform him of the true Islam that I have learned from the Quran because I know that he will begin his criticisms without bothering to even listen. what should be my role and responsibility towards my father?
In Need of a Father Figure
Dear In Need of a Father Figure,
One of the most important commandments in the Quran is respecting and honoring your parents. We read in 17:23:
"Your Lord has decreed that you shall not worship except Him, and your parents shall be honored. As long as one or both of them live, you shall never say to them, "Uff' (the slightest gesture of annoyance), nor shall you shout at them; you shall treat them amicably."
HOWEVER, if your parents are forcing you away from worshipping God then you need to set some limits. In 29:8 we read:
"We enjoined the human being to honor his parents. But if they try to force you to set up idols besides Me, do not obey them..."
Our ultimate loyalty should be to God since God is the ultimate judge of everything we do. You should treat your father with respect and tell him in the nicest possible manner that you do not like him to criticize your belief. If he continues, you can try to change the subject or simply leave the room. If you have tried to inform him about the importance of God
without success, don't give up. Be patient and be careful not to push the subject too far. There are many subtle and indirect ways to show your father that we need God in our life and that Islam, which means submission, is a way of life that helps us get closer to God. Most importantly, do not let others take you away from worshipping God. Your conduct will be a great example to others about the true meaning of Islam. You should be proud of your efforts and know that God is rewarding you for striving in your current situation.
Adam & Chancellor
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