Understanding Islam from the front door

the_new_mr

This post is intended to be as much as a pouring of what is in my mind concerning this topic as it is supposed to be a discussion on it.

Very often when people approach Islam, I find they often do it through the back door. What I mean by that is that they examine a facet of Islam (hijab, combat etc) and begin to criticise it without proper background knowledge.

I was once talking to a friend of mine about this and we likened this idea to a tree. If someone wants to really understand Islam then they should do so from the root of the tree. There's little point in starting from the leaves except in the case of wanting to either:

a) Understand only a particular aspect of Islam
b) Verify if such an aspect truly is a part of Islam or not

For a Muslim, it's obviously very easy. A Muslim believes in God (through a combination of faith, reason and logic). God does not expect people to have blind faith and helps people to believe by stating scientific miracles in the Quran. A Muslim accepts the Quran as the literal word of God and so therefore should follow everything in it. Sometimes the reason for an action is given (such as in the case of intoxicants or games of chance) and sometimes no reason is given (such as the prohibition of eating pork). In the end, a Muslim should say "We hear and obey".

For a non-Muslim, this chain is obviously a little more complicated. Sometimes a non-Muslim may require a logical reason for every single action that a Muslim is required to do (or not to do as the case may be) and there may not be one. The best a Muslim can do in such a situation is answer to the best of their ability and point the non-Muslim to a verse in the Quran or an authentic hadith.

And if an answer which is unsatisfactory to the non-Muslim asking the question is given then the Muslim should try harder to give a more satisfactory answer until they honestly believe they've said everything they can say. And if the answer is still unsatisfactory then it should probably be just left at that. There's not much point in going over it and over it. I think some non-Muslims may believe that they will convince the Muslim that Islam is not the truth by such arguments but, in reality, this is not as easy to do as some might think such is the strength of the base of the tree.

That's not to say that a Muslim should never question. A Muslim may not understand one of the leaves of the tree and I believe we should all question what we believe just a little in order to really believe it. I could be talking rubbish here and so God forgive me if I am. I don't mean that a Muslim should go to anti-Islam websites as these are nothing but a waste of time and gets one angry. But if any doubt enters into the mind of a Muslim, it can (and should) be easily be refuted and this ends up strengthening the Muslim's belief in the end.

Coming back to the point of discussion between Muslims and non-Muslims on the subject of Islam. As I've stated before, I believe that the best way to live together is to understand each other and I hope that this forum goes some way to doing that. But we should also keep in mind that there is no point in going round in circles. If a non-Muslim is not convinced with an aspect of Islam (such as hijab) then they are free to their own opinion and they have two options.

One is that they can just accept that they don't agree with it but respect that other people do and leave it at that.

The other is that they can go further back on the branch and eventually to the root of the tree to see where this belief comes from.

I'm often reluctant to say it as I'm often afraid it will be misintepreted but I find that people are very often incredibly arrogant when it comes to their opinons. Sometimes people are so convinced that they're right that they have their mind made up even before they've asked the question. And the irony is that the people who often accuse Muslims of being arrogant are quite arrogant themselves. A little self-reflection is required by everyone.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that we should all try to stop forcing our opinions on others. We should exchange our opinions in a respectful manner and maybe go back and forth a bit as well and use this as a way to understand the other. A non-Muslim should not be trying to prove Islam wrong. At the same time, a Muslim should not try to force someone to be a Muslim. This is down to each individual.

Al-Baqara:256
"There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower."

Al-Insan (man):29
"This is an admonition: Whosoever will, let him take a (straight) Path to his Lord."

Sorry if this post was too long.

As always, any good in this post is from God and any mistakes in it are mine and may God forgive me for them.

Wibbs

Good post. Maybe sticky it?

the_new_mr

Sure, why not?