You said that belief in Allah as the only God, and Muhammad as his prophet is the first pillar of Islam. This doesn’t mean that you must accept this on faith. To become a Muslim, you must be convinced that these two tenets are true. But how do you reach such a conviction? Does Islam accept the approach: “I believe in Allah as the only God, and Muhammad as His prophet, because my parents say so”? It doesn’t. Therefore, these two beliefs are not the starting point, and should not be accepted on faith.

Maybe I still haven’t made the purpose of the book clear, so I should be writing more posts to help clarify the direction I’m going in.

The issue you raised about believing in a deity doesn’t fit the subject of the book, and I’m going to have postpone commenting on the subject for another (series of) posts.

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Saleem (hotconflict), thank you for your visit.

I agree with you that many people comment on Islam without having an understanding of it. But I think this is more applicable about Muslims than any other group.

For one thing, Muslims are following claims and assumptions more than developing a proper understanding of their religion. I will deal with this issue in greater detail in the book.

Apart from the fact that stating that Islam is “the” divine faith is a claim that needs to be qualified with evidence (to even state that it is “a” divine faith requires evidence as well!), when I refer to “Islam” here, I am referring to the religion associated with Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him and his family).

Mind you, stating that “the articles of faith for a Muslim are the same from the time of Adam to the end of days” is also a claim that needs to be proved.

And while Westerners can try to make Islam seem alien, there *are* irrational beliefs being promoted by Muslims that do not seem sensible to a Western mind, and aren’t shared by other religions.

Islam is not “A” divine faith…it is “The” divine faith.
Islam is the name of the faith that Allah has thought all the messengers.

The articles of faith for a Muslim are the same from the time of Adam to the end of days.

There is a lot of westerners who are trying to make Islam out to be so different and alien to other faiths.
Check out this website that directly deals with some of the misconceptions about Islam using stories and Ppop-Culture.

http://www.hotconflict.com

Really? Isn’t the first pillar of Islamic belief that Allah is the only God and Mohammed is his prophet? If not, forgive me, but if so, not only does this contradict your statement, it also confuses me in regard to your hostility on my pointing out that Allah’s existence is a CRUCIAL issue for you to face head-on, not skirt to the side. And any belief in a supernatural deity IS a leap of faith, and therefore Islam does fit the template, regardless of whether some aspects of its metaphysics or epistemology may be correct in your opinion.

You keep referring to Islam ‘as it is.’ I wonder what you mean by this. In the context you use it, I infer you mean a study of the religion, without confronting the question of Allah’s existence and Islam’s divinity. However, do you concede that Islam ‘as it is,’ must include the fact that since it’s inception it has been a tool of ruling classes? Even Mohammad himself was born into a fairly powerful family. This, as well as the non-existence of Allah, must be confronted and discussed, in my opinion, if ever people are to truly understand Islam (and most religions for that matter) and it’s attraction to people.

As to your inquiry, ‘Now, you are beginning with the assumption that the basis of a religion is its divinity. But do you think Islam supports your opinion of religion? And how have you come to this conclusion?’ Once again, I refer you to the First Pillar of Islamic Faith. You have even said yourself that belief in God transcends all of Islam. Not to mention there was no Islam until Mohammad came back from receiving his REVELATION FROM ALLAH and teaching it to his followers. So yes, I do believe that Islam supports my opinion of religion, for the above reasons.

Now, will you answer my question objectively? I will re-post it for your convenience: ‘Do you really (Does man really) need a deity to explain the superiority of social order to chaos? A God to instruct to you not to steal? not to rape? not to kill? Do you have to a God to understand love? or compassion? or morality?” If you believe so, why? If you do not, and a deity has no function, why then prescribe him a form (as Buddha, Allah, Jehovah, etc.)?

I am not trying to *prove* that Islam is a divine religion. I am looking for a way to understand the religion for what it is. I’m not addressing the question of whether God exists or not, but what the attributes of the God of Islam are.

You can understand a religion, but still believe that it is flawed. You can study Greek mythology without needing to prove that Zeus exists. Just because Zeus doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that Greek mythology is meaningless or can never be understood *for what it is.*

Now, you are beginning with the assumption that the basis of a religion is its divinity. But do you think Islam supports your opinion of religion? And how have you come to this conclusion?

You cannot say: “All religions call on people to have faith, therefore, Islamic beliefs require a leap of faith.” This is one of the reasons why Islam isn’t properly understood. It is being reshaped to fit a template that it doesn’t belong to.

Islam *is* a religion, in the sense of asserting the belief in a divine being, and in having a set of rituals to express its values. But we need to study Islam for what it is in order to know what its views on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, politics, etc. are.

I hope my purpose in writing the book is clear, now.

If Mohammad did not ascend to heaven, how is he superior to Ayn Rand? Bertrand Russell? Aristotle? Of course, these philosophers have not had governments back their teachings and enforce their study, but surely this is not the criterion by which we judge intellectual ideas.

“..to understand a religion, the validity of its claim to divinity or its level of absurdity is irrelevant” — I wonder, could I interest you in Biology if I didn’t first show you that there are, in fact, mammals and reptiles and birds that all have mechanical bodies? How about Psychology before convincing you that you have a brain? I am all for an in-depth view at the teachings of Islam, I understand some very wise men were a part of it’s origin. But if you don’t first put those beliefs in perspective by explaining that they are not the feelings of a supernatural deity, then you are only robbing yourself and your readers. Instead of eliminating confusion, you are reinforcing it.

Oh, and I am not claiming that Islam is not a ’sound’ religion, if there is such a thing. I am saying that any doctrine that presupposes the existence of the supernatural is wrong. Almost all religions that I have studied do have redeeming qualities, however, and I have already found that Islam is noble in encouraging intellectual individuality (epsecially at it’s conception), even if it is on a small scale. This does not alter my view that Allah, Yahweh, and Shiva etc. are non-existent, that those people who have subjective ‘evidence’ of their existence might be delusional.

It’s kind of like Richard Dawkins said, “If you really think about it, you are an atheist to 99% of the gods mankind has invented throughout it’s existence. I simply go one god further.”