*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
{ Sila lawat Laman Hizbi-Net - http://www.hizbi.net }
{ Hantarkan mesej anda ke: [EMAIL PROTECTED] }
{ Iklan barangan? Hantarkan ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] }
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam,
An interesting story by Abdul Malik LeBlanc on how he
discovered the truth about Islam from the Bible
itself.
Wassalam
Sitora Jebat
*************************************************************
The Bible Led Me to Islam Abdul Malik LeBlanc tells
how he discovered Islam within the pages of Bible
Taken from International Edition Voice of Islam
November 1998, Page 25
During my Christian days there were many verses in the
Bible that made me question the religion I was
following (Christianity). There was one particular
verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 which says; "pray without
ceasing," that lingered heavily in my mind. I often
wondered how a person (Christian) was supposed to pray
(be in a state of worship) without ceasing? Without
any biblical or divine guidance, the only way I
thought this to be possible was to always do good
deeds and keep the remembrance of God on my tongue and
in my heart.
However, I found this to be impossible to do as a
human being. But when I was introduced to Islam in
1987, and began to read and learn more about this way
of life, I found that Islam provided divine guidance
both from God (Allah) and Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by
which a person could pray (be in a state of worship)
without ceasing, if it was the Will of God.
Whether waking up, eating, sleeping, putting on
clothes, being in the presence of a woman, looking at
a woman, going shopping, going to the bathroom,
looking in the mirror, traveling, visiting the sick,
sitting in a non-religious meeting, taking a bath,
having sexual intercourse with one’s wife, yawning,
cutting you nails, sneezing, greeting people, talking,
hosting guests at home, walking, exercising, fighting,
entering one’s house, praying and many other acts,
Islam and the guidance therein of the Quran, and the
acts and sayings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), provided
ways in which I could observe 1 Thessalonians 5:17. In
addition, it allowed me to be at peace with myself and
in submission to the one True God - Allah (SWT).
This divine guidance of Islam taught me greatly about
my duties, responsibilities and birthright to my
Creator (Allah), and more about the religion of
Christianity as a Muslim, I [By the Will of Allah
(SWT)] felt it necessary to share with you how the
Bible led me to Islam.
Christianity
Given the fact that there has never been in the
history of the Torah (Old Testament) the religion of
God to be named after a Prophet (i.e. Adaminity,
Abrahamity, Mosanity, etc.), I hope to explain that
Jesus did not preach the religion of Christianity, but
a religion that gives all Praise and Worship to The
One God.
One of the questions I asked myself as I took an
objective (second) look at Christianity was; where did
the word Christianity come from and was the word ever
mentioned to Jesus? Well, I did not find the word
Christianity in the Bible, not even in a Bible
dictionary. Specifically, I did not find in the Bible
where Jesus called himself a Christian.
The word Christian was first mentioned by a pagan to
describe those who followed Jesus. It is mentioned one
of three times in the New Testament by a pagan and Jew
in Antioch about 43 AD, (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:38 and 1
Peter 4:16) long after Jesus left this earth. To
accept the words of pagans as having any value or
association with divinity, Jesus or God is contrary to
the teachings of all Prophets.
Jesus prophesied that people would worship him
uselessly and believe in doctrines made by men
(Matthew 15:9).
"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men." This verse,
Matthew 15:9, is further supported by these words of
the Quran:
"And (remember) when Allah will say (on the Day of
Resurrection): "O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say unto
men: "Worship me and my mother as two gods besides
Allah?" He will say: "Glory be to You! It was not for
me to say what I had no right (to say). Had I said
such a thing, You would surely have known it. You know
what is in my inner-self though I do not know what is
in Yours, truly, You, only You, are the All-Knower o
fall that is hidden and unseen.
Never did I say to them aught except what You (Allah)
did command me to say: ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and
your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them while I
dwelt amongst them, but when You took me up, You were
a Witness to all things. (This is a great admonition
and warning to the Christians of the whole world)."
(Al-Ma’idah 5:116-117)
I found that Biblical verses like John 5:30, John
12:49, John 14:28, Isaiah 42:8 and Acts 2:22 support
the above mentioned verses of the Quran.
Before leaving the subject of Christianity, I should
mention one small point of observation. If Christians
are Christ-like, why are they not greeting each other
with the words; Peace be with you (Salamu Alaikum), as
Jesus did in Luke 24:36. As you may be aware, the
greeting from one Muslim to another Muslim is Assalamu
Alaikum; a Christ-like saying.
Various Holy Bibles
It is worth mentioning that the Bible references cited
might not be exactly as the Bible you are using. There
are MANY Bibles on the market that are used by
different Christian sects and all of these sects say
that their book, though different, is the word of God.
Such Bibles are: The Revised Standard Version 1952 &
1971, New American Standard Bible, The Holy Bible; New
International Version, the Living Bible, New World
Translation of the Holy Scriptures used by Jehovah
Witnesses, Roman Catholic Version and the King James
Version. A special note: I have not found in any of
these Bibles where the "New Testament" calls itself
the "New Testament," and nowhere does the "Old
Testament" call itself the "Old? Testament." Also, the
word "Bible" is unknown within the pages of the Bible.
In addition to the many different Christian sects and
Bibles, I have learned that there are also different
men, not Prophets, who founded these sects and are
using various interpretations of the Bible and/or
man-made doctrines as their creed.
I would like to share with you some thoughts that you
may not have read or known about the Bible being the
word of God. Briefly, let me mention that on September
8, 1957, the Jehovah’s witnesses in their "Awake"
magazine carried this startling headline - 50,000
Errors in the Bible. If you ask a Jehovah’s witness
about this headline, it may be said that today most of
those errors have been eliminated. How many have been
eliminated, 5,000? Even if 50 remain, would one
attribute those errors to God?
Let me pose another question: if a "Holy" book
contained conflicting verses would you still consider
it to be Holy? Most likely you will say of course not.
Let me share with you some conflicting verses both in
the Old and New Testaments:
II Samuel 8:4 (vs)II Samuel 8:9-10II Kings 8:26II
Samuel 6:23Genesis 6:3John 5:37John 5:31I Chronicles
18:4I Chronicles 18:9-10II Chronicles 22:2II Samuel
21:8Genesis 9:29John 14:9John 8:14
Only two contradictions of the New Testament have been
mentioned, but others will be referenced when the
Trinity, Divinity of Jesus Christ, Divine Sonship of
Jesus, Original Sin and Atonement are reviewed.
How could the "inspired words" of God get the
genealogy of Jesus incorrect (See Matthew 1:6-16 where
it states 26 forefathers up to Prophet David, and Luke
3:23-31 says 41 in number). Or for that matter, give a
genealogy to Jesus who had NO father? See II Kings
19:1-37, now read Isaiah 37:1-38. Why is it that the
words of these verse are identical? Yet they have been
attributed to two different authors, one unknown and
the other is Isaiah, who are centuries apart; and yet,
the Christians have claimed these books to be inspired
by God.
I looked up the word Easter in the Nelson Bible
dictionary and learned that the word "Easter" (as
mentioned in Acts 12:4) is a mistranslation of
"pascha," the ordinary Greek word for "Passover." As,
you know Passover is a Jewish celebration not a
Christian holiday. I think human hands, all to human,
had played havoc with the Bible.
>From the brief points mentioned above, and the fact
that Biblical scholars themselves have recognized the
human nature and human composition of the Bible (Curt
Kuhl, The Old Testament: Its Origin and Composition,
PP 47, 51, 52), there should exist in the Christian’s
mind some acceptance to the fact that maybe every word
of the Bible is not God’s word.
As a side note to this subject, let me mention that
some Christians believe that the Bible was dictated to
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by a Christian monk, and that
is why some of the biblical accounts are in the Quran.
After some research, I found that this could not have
happened because there were no Arabic Bible in
existence in the 6th century of the Christian era when
Muhammad (SAW) lived and preached. Therefore, no Arab,
not even Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was absolutely
unlettered and unlearned, would have had the
opportunity to examine the written text of the Bible
in his own language.
The Gospels
If you read Luke 1:2-3, you will learn, as I did, that
Luke (who was not one of the 12 disciples and never
met Jesus) said that he himself was not an eyewitness,
and the knowledge he gathered was from eyewitnesses,
and not as words inspired by God. Incidentally, why
does every "Gospel" begin with the introduction
According to. Why "according to?" the reason for this
is because not a single one of the gospels carries its
original author’s autograph! Even the internal
evidence of Matthew 9:9 proves that Matthew was not
the author of the first Gospel which bears his name:
"And as Jesus passed forth thence, He (Jesus) saw a
man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom:
and He (Jesus) saith unto Him (Matthew), follow me
(Jesus). And he (Matthew) arose, and followed Him
(Jesus)."
Without any stretch of the imagination, one can see
that the He’s and the Him’s of the above narration do
not refer to Jesus or Matthew as its author, but a
third person writing what he saw or heard - a hearsay
account and not words inspired by God.
It is worth noting, and well known throughout the
religious world, that the choice of the present four
"gospels" of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John) were imposed in the Council of Nicea 325 CE
for political purposes under the auspices of the pagan
Emperor Constantine, and not by Jesus. Constantine’s
mind had not been enlightened either by study or by
inspiration. He was a pagan, a tyrant and criminal who
murdered his son, his wife and thousands of innocent
individuals because of his lust for political power.
Constantine ratified other decisions in the Nicene
Creed such as the decision to call Christ "the Son of
God, only begotten of the father."
Literally, hundreds of gospels and religious writings
were hidden from the people. Some of those writings
were written by Jesus’ disciples, and many of them
were eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ actions. The Nicea
Council decided to destroy all gospels written in
Hebrew, which resulted in the burning of nearly three
hundred accounts. If these writings were not more
authentic than the four present gospels, they were of
equal authenticity. Some of them are still available
such as the Gospel of Barnabas and the Shepherd of
Hermas which agree with the Quran. The Gospel of
Barnabas, until now, is the only eyewitness account of
the life and mission of Jesus. Even today, the whole
of the Protestant word, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh
Day Adventists and other sects and denominations
condemn the Roman Catholic version of the Bible
because it contains seven "extra" books. The
Protestant have bravely expunged seven whole books
from their word of God. A few of the outcasts are the
Books of Judith, Tobnias, Baruch and Esther.
Concerning Jesus’ teachings of the Gospel (Injeel),
the Gospel writers frequently mentioned Jesus
preaching the Gospel: Matthew 9:35, Mark 8:35, and
Luke 20:1. The word "gospel" is recurrently used in
the Bible. However, in the New Testament Greek edition
the word Evangeline is used in place of the word
gospel, which is translated to mean good news. My
question was: what Gospel did Jesus preach? Of the 27
books of the New Testament, only a small fraction can
be accepted as the words of Jesus, and only of the 27
books are known to be attributed as the Gospel of
Jesus. The remaining 23 were supposedly written by
Paul. Muslims do believe that Jesus was given God’s
"Good News." However, they do not recognized the
present four Gospels as the utterances of Jesus.
The earliest Gospel is that of Mark’s which was
written about 60-75 AD. Mark was the son of Barnabas’s
sister. Matthew was a tax collector, a minor official
who did not travel around with Jesus. Luke’s Gospel
was written much later, and in fact, drawn from the
same sources as Mark’s and Matthew’s. Luke was Paul’s
physician, and like Paul, never met Jesus. By the way,
did you know that the names Marks and Luke were not
included in the 12 appointed disciples of Jesus as
mentioned in Matthew 10:2-4?
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; the
first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his
brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his
brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew
the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus,
whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and
Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
John’s Gospel is from a different source, and was
written in about 100 AD. He (John) should not be
confused with John, the disciple, who was beheaded by
Agrippa I in the year 44 CE long before this gospel
was written. It should be accepted as a reliable
account of the life of Jesus, and whether it should be
included in the scriptures.
Christians, as I once did, boast about the Gospels
according to Matthew, according to Mark, according to
Luke and according to John. However, if we think about
it, there is not a single Gospel according to Jesus
himself. According to the preface of the KJV (King
James Version) new open Bible study edition, the word
"Gospel" was added (see below) to the original titles,
"According to John, according to Matthew, according to
Luke and according to Mark."
The permission to call "According to" writings the
Gospel was not given by Jesus nor by any other divine
guidance. These writings; Matthew, Luke, Mark and
John, were never originally to be the Gospel.
Therefore, Mark 1:1 can not be a true statement that
his writing is the gospel of Jesus.
It should be mentioned that Muslims must believe in
all Divine scriptures in their original form, their
Prophets and making no distinction between them: The
Suhuf (Abraham); Torah (Moses); Psalms (David); Gospel
- or the Injeel (Jesus); and the Quran (Muhammad). It
is clearly stated in the Quran 3:3 that Allah sent
down the Torah and the Gospel. However, none of these
scriptures remains in its original form now, except
the Quran, which was sent for all mankind everywhere
and for all times.
In addition to other reasons why the Quran was sent to
mankind, as mentioned in 18:4-5 it was sent to warn
the Christians of a terrible punishment from God if
they cease not in saying: "Allah has begotten a son."
Muslims sincerely believe that everything Jesus (May
the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) preached
was from God; the Gospel (Injeel): The "good news" and
the guidance of God for the Children of Israel. There
is no place mentioned in the present four Gospels that
Jesus wrote a single word of his Gospel, nor is it
mentioned that Jesus instructed anyone to do so. What
passes off, as the "Gospels" today are the works of
third party human hands. The Quran 2:79 says:
"And woe to those who write the book with their own
hands and they say: "This is from Allah (God)." To
traffic with it for a miserable price! So woe to them
for what their hands do write, and woe to them for
what they earn thereby!"
( To be continued in Part II)
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
( Melanggan ? To : [EMAIL PROTECTED] pada body : SUBSCRIBE HIZB)
( Berhenti ? To : [EMAIL PROTECTED] pada body: UNSUBSCRIBE HIZB)
( Segala pendapat yang dikemukakan tidak menggambarkan )
( pandangan rasmi & bukan tanggungjawab HIZBI-Net )
( Bermasalah? Sila hubungi [EMAIL PROTECTED] )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pengirim: si tora jebat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
