On 9/4/05, Max Jasper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Excellent! So we conclude that in order to see who is a real Muslim we have
> to have a reference point, i.e., a criteria which is infallible or divinely
> guided. We have to turn to God Himself then to see who is a Muslim.
I think you are reading waaaaay too much into what I said. Anytime
anyone uses words they are implicitly or explicitly invoking some
criteria. And different individuals will often have different
criteria. So when it comes to religious labels, one approach would be
to get down and dirty in the middle of a contraversy and pick a side.
(pick one group and accept their definitions as authoritative).
Another approach would be to give people the benefit of the doubt and
accept the notion of self-definition.
In the case of Muslim, I would like to say that everyone who claims to
be Muslim is Muslim, and there are certain fuzzy areas where I would
like to make excuses for people and not be judgemental. But some
points are deal breakers.
> For that purpose "self-definition" is insufficient criteria.
>
> To be a real Muslim required a person to accept two major kinds of
> Covenants:
> 1) The Greater Covenant of God
> 2) The Lesser Covenant of God
>
> These Covenants never change. Christians had to accept them too. Jews had to
> do the same.
>
> Based on (1) anyone who believes in God accepts to discover and believe in
> the Manifestation of God for the time he is living in.
>
> Hence, a true Jew was obliged to accept the truth of Jesus and believe in
> Him. Same way, a true Christian had to accept truth of Muhammad, and a
> Muslim should accept the truth of the Bab and Bahá'u'lláh, and a Bahá'í
> accepts truth of next Manifestation of God.
>
I think those sorts of definitions would strongly impede communication
with non-Bahais (at best) and will probably be offensive (at worst).
And I hope you don't expect Jews, Christians and Muslims to use those
definitions in conversation.
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