Why Islam?<\/p>\n
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Let\u2019s talk frankly.\u00a0 Almost never do non-Muslims study Islam until they have first exhausted the religions of their exposure.\u00a0 Only after they have grown dissatisfied with the religions familiar to them, meaning Judaism, Christianity and all the fashionable \u201c-isms\u201d\u2014Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism (and, as my young daughter once added, \u201ctourism\u201d)\u2014do they consider Islam.<\/p>\n
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Perhaps other religions do not answer the big questions of life, such as \u201cWho made us?\u201d \u00a0and \u201cWhy are we here?\u201d \u00a0Perhaps other religions do not reconcile the injustices of life with a fair and just Creator.\u00a0 Perhaps we find hypocrisy in the clergy, untenable tenets of faith in the canon, or corruption in the scripture.\u00a0 Whatever the reason, we perceive shortcomings in the religions of our exposure, and look elsewhere.\u00a0 And the ultimate \u201celsewhere\u201d is Islam.<\/p>\n
Now, Muslims would not like to hear me say that Islam is the \u201cultimate elsewhere.\u201d \u00a0But it is.\u00a0 Despite the fact that Muslims comprise one-fourth to one-fifth of the world\u2019s population, non-Muslim media smears Islam with such horrible slanders that few non-Muslims view the religion in a positive light.\u00a0 Hence, it is normally the last religion seekers investigate.<\/p>\n
Another problem is that by the time non-Muslims examine Islam, other religions have typically heightened their skepticism: If every \u201cGod-given\u201d scripture we have ever seen is corrupt, how can the Islamic scripture be different? \u00a0If charlatans have manipulated religions to suit their desires, how can we imagine the same not to have happened with Islam?<\/p>\n
The answer can be given in a few lines, but takes books to explain.\u00a0 The short answer is this: There is a God.\u00a0 He is fair and just, and He wants us to achieve the reward of paradise.\u00a0 However, God has placed us in this worldly life as a test, to weed out the worthy from the unworthy.\u00a0 And we will be lost if left to our own devices.\u00a0 Why? \u00a0Because we don\u2019t know what He wants from us.\u00a0 We can\u2019t navigate the twists and turns of this life without His guidance, and hence, He has given us guidance in the form of revelation.<\/p>\n
Sure, previous religions have been corrupted, and that is <\/i>one of the reasons why<\/i><\/u> we have a chain of revelation.\u00a0 Ask yourself: wouldn\u2019t God send another revelation if the preceding scriptures were impure? \u00a0If preceding scriptures were corrupted, humans would need another revelation, to keep upon the straight path of His design.<\/p>\n
So we should expect<\/i> preceding scriptures to be corrupted, and we should expect the final revelation to be pure and unadulterated,for we cannot imagine a loving God leaving us astray.\u00a0 What we can<\/i> imagine is God giving us a scripture, and men corrupting it; God giving us another scripture, and men corrupting it again \u2026 and again, and again.\u00a0 Until God sends a final revelation He promises to preserve until the end of time.<\/p>\n
Muslims consider this final revelation to be the Holy Quran.\u00a0 You consider it \u2026 worth looking into.\u00a0 So let us return to the title of this article: Why Islam? \u00a0Why should we believe that Islam is the religion of truth, the religion that possesses the pure and final revelation?<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, just trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, how many times have you heard that<\/i> line? \u00a0A famous comedian used to joke that people of different cities cuss one another out in different ways.\u00a0 In Chicago, they cuss a person out this<\/i> way, in Los Angeles they cuss a person out that<\/i> way, but in New York they just say, \u201cTrust me.\u201d<\/p>\n
So don\u2019t trust me\u2014trust our Creator.\u00a0 Read the Quran, read books and study good websites.\u00a0 But whatever you do, get started, take it seriously, and pray for our Creator to guide you.<\/p>\n
Your life may not depend on it, but your soul most definitely does.<\/p>\n
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Copyright \u00a9 2007 Laurence B. Brown; used by permission.<\/p>\n