"Altway" <altway@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:lLmdnVrht9SliQLaRVnyugA@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "Zev" <zev_horn@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote
>> I understood that Muslims believe that "Islam" is unchanging,
> from the earlist prophets until Muhammed.
> Here you mention the "evolution over time" of religions.
> Can you discuss this further?
> Comment:-
> I will give you a fairly comprehensive answer but you might not read it
> with concentration
> but flit over it.
< body of detailed response snipped for brevity>
Hamid, thanks for your thoughtful response.
It isn't often that Usenet subscribers see posts
as well organised as this one is.
I assume, as an outsider, that many Muslims
could accept it as a definitive statement on the subject.
But because I am an outsider,
I have a worldview which is different from yours
and I would like to share some comments with you on your post.
1) Once we accept the idea of religion being divine *and* flexible
it becomes difficult to accept the idea of a prophet
with a quality of "last prophet".
It seems to contradict the idea that religions change
as the human environment changes.
You certainly won't claim that seventh century Arabia
represents some "final stage" in human cultural development!
2) Your post implies that members of other religions
should leave their old religions and become Muslim
(Quran 7:157 also implies this).
But what happens when a Jew hears this and looks into his Bible
and sees commandments like Sabbath and Passover
mentioned again and again, all over the Bible, OT and NT,
frequently described as an "eternal sign"?
Passover, as Jews understand and celebrate it,
has no place in a universal religion,
and doesn't exist in Islam.
The idea of commemorating God's resting
after the work of creation, is unacceptable in Islam.
A Jew wonders how he can obey
commandments like these in an Islamic environment,
or abandon them and not find himself guilty.
I've asked questions like these several times
and the responses (and non-responses) I get
give me the impression that Muslims think
this is not their problem.
In my opinion, this is not true.
Islam presents itself as a universal religion.
Muslims say that everyone should accept Islam.
If a Jew asks questions like this and Islam has no answer,
where does that leave Islam?
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