Islam for Non-Muslims

• RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
• 1 The Present State of the World Religions
• 2 Religious System as a Historical Reality
• 3 The Evidences of God across the Universe
• 4 The Absolute Oneness of God
• 5 The Reality of the Afterlife
• 6 The Growth of Irreligious Ideas
• 7 Worshipping Natural Elements
• 8 Worshipping Imaginary Idols
• 9 Worshipping Human Beings
• 10 Inventing Relationship to God
• 11 Inventing the Idea of Reincarnation
• 12 Inventing the Theory of Evolution (Darwinism)
• 13 Inventing ‘Nature’ as the Creator of the Universe
• 14 Importance of Religion in this Secular World
• ISLAM AS A RELIGION
• 15 Addressing the Criticisms of Islam
• 16 Islam as a Magnet for the Non-Muslims
• 17 The Quran as the Original Divine Book
• 18 The Quranic Reality in Archeological Findings
• 19 Muhammad (pbuh) as the Great Prophet
• 20 Islam as the True Religion
• 21 Islam as the Universal Religion
• 22 Islam as the Eternal Religion
• 23 Islam as a Practicable Religion
• 24 Islam as an Enjoyable Religion
• 25 Islam as the Peaceful & Savior Religion
• 26 Islam as the Progressive & Rational Religion
• 27 Islam in Health & Hygiene
• 28 Islam in Promotion of Science
• 29 Muslims in Practices of Science
• 30 Islam & Other Monotheisms: Similarities & Differences
• 31 Islamic Tolerance for Other Religions
• 32 Islamic Rights for Non-Muslim Citizens
• ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
• 33 Islamic System vs. Human Ideologies
• 34 Moral & Social Impacts of Islamic Rituals
• 35 Moral Discipline in Islam
• 36 Sinning of 3 W’s: Women, Wine and Wealth
• 37 Dignity & Equality of Man in Islam
• 38 Human Rights in Islam
• 39 Social Duties in Islam
• 40 Dignity & Rights of Labor in Islam
• 41 Dignity of Women in Islam
• 42 Rights of Women in Islam
• 43 Marriage & Family Life in Islam
• 44 Political Philosophy in Islam
• 45 Economic Principles in Islam
• 46 Islamic Economy vs. Capitalism & Communism
• 47 Patriotism & Internationalism in Islam
• 48 Understanding Controversial Issues in Islam
• 49 Conversion to Islam: Problems & Prospects
• 50 Conclusive Message to the Non-Muslims

50:  CONCLUSIVE MESSAGE TO THE NON-MUSLIMS (MODEL OF COMPARISION)

Introduction: This article gives a clarion call to the non-Muslim community to wake up to the importance of reviewing the merits and demerits of various existing religions in a comparative format. The purpose is to choose the religion that would be decisively most good for them.  If you pick a right religion well on time right now, that will secure your future that has endless extension beyond this life.  You should therefore not stick to your old or inherited religion that misses the vital elements for your salvation. The choice of religion is a natural right that is duly recognized in democratic societies and you should take full advantage of that by exercising this right.

A Model of Comparison:  Selection of a right religion is not, however, an easy job. We therefore now propose a Model that can be used as a tool for comparing among available religions, wisely and fairly.  The proposed Three-Point Model of Comparison is factored into (i) the Originality of Divine Source (ii) the Quantity of Provisions and (iii) the Quality of Provisions, described below:

(i) The Originality of Religion criterion checks if a religion originated from the real God and has been retaining its purity since day one. The importance of originality of a religion comes from the fact that when its divine originality is otherwise polluted by human hands, then the very foundation of the definition of religion gets uprooted.
(ii) The Quantity of Provisions criterion determines if a religion under your consideration does have maximum quantity of provisions for covering almost every aspect of humanity so you can fashion your life accordingly to obtain total Blessings.
(iii) The Quality of Provisions means how the revealed provisions of God meet His gold standard like universal and eternal, moral and human, peace and salvation, fair and justice, scientific and progressive, flexible and practicable among others.
A careful evaluation will suggest that these three factors (neither more nor less) in the Model are not only necessary but also sufficient as tool for judicious comparison among religions to determine the best one. By using this formula, whatever the religion that scores highest points should be the only one as your perfect choice.

Standing of Islam in the Model: Now we review the comparative strength of Islam in the light of the above model.

(1)  Originality of Religious Provisions: Islam was born as pure and original from the real God and not from any fake or illegitimate sources like human gods, man-made gods, nature gods, imaginary gods etc. More importantly, it has been maintaining this originality down to this day, creating a unique example. This is the same God, “Our Lord and your Lord” and the Creator of all people and their religions (42:15) revealed that all previous holy Books sent by Him lost purity by the time Quran was descended in the early 7th century: “Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands” (2:79). In the same token, He also vowed not to allow the same thing happen for the holy Quran, given His promise “to guard it (from corruption)” and therefore “there is none that can alter the Words of God (Quran)” (15:9; 6:34).

            This was a well-kept promise that already started showing signs of reality everywhere. You will not see any textual differences among the copies of Quran separated by thousands of miles or hundreds of years. Nor would you notice its any incompatibility with the facts on the ground. As one example, Islam never agreed with the geocentric view of the medieval Church that earth is at the center of revolving sun. Thus Islam appears unbeatable by the test of originality. On this account, you have no choice but to award score of 100 to Islam, unless you can prove otherwise that its Book Quran was ever polluted by human hands while the burden of proof is yours.

(2) Quantity of Religious Provisions: Islam claims to be a complete way of life, made possible by diverse and broad nature of original Quranic Messages. Unlike other religions, you will see how Islam contributed rulings (both basic and detailed) to almost all aspects of human life including religiously non-traditional areas like social, political, economic, legal and so on.  In other words, there is barely any piece of human action that does not have ideal solution in Islam. Thus Islam is virtually without any challenger when it comes to the quantity of Messages.

(3) Quality of Religious Provisions: Islam is the latest and therefore enjoys benefits from its modernism. It has a scientific leaning and a progressive outlook. It has flexibility that makes it adaptable to future changes in life. It also declared your independence from the evils of flawed and selfish human ideologies. These provisions single out Islam as a living religion for all the time and for all the people.

     Islam has worship rituals which are enough to satisfy God for gaining salvation for the Muslims while not being too hard for their practice. It has a broad range of lawful funs leaving aside only few harmful practices like alcohol, adultery etc. making life both enjoyable and meaningful.  It placed morality on a high ground and set a superb standard for humanity. It ties up both rights and duties in an inseparable relation and gives effective protection to the vulnerable groups including the poor, the women, the orphans, the non-Muslims etc.  It is more tolerant of other religions than the tolerance it enjoys from them, as authenticated not only by the Quran but also by the historical practices of the Muslims. Islam thus has a clear advantage over other religions in this regard.

    In this way, the above Three Point Model does establish the supremacy of Islam over other religions, reinforcing God’s claim that Islam is a “perfect” and “standard religion” and its followers (Muslims) are “the best of people evolved for mankind. They are (in fact) the Party of God” (5:3; 30:30; 3:110; 58:22).  There is no way that you can dismiss this claim, as you cannot name any other religion that can score higher points than Islam, based on 3 reasonable pillars of this Model. Such positive assessment not only comes from pro-Islamic sources but also from many independent non-Muslim authorities who expressed high opinion of Islam, leaving direct claim for or indirect hints at its leading position as shown below. 

    For example, one independent author Michael Hart (1994) gave #1 place to Prophet Muhammad in a ranking of 100 most influential people on earth.  Likewise, despite being the newest religion on this planet, Islam was seen by John Paul II (1995) as the “second largest and fastest growing religion” amidst his concern that it may soon overtake his largest Catholic religion, apparently due to the excellence of Islam.  This trend is also in step with God’s proclamation that He did send His Messenger “with the Religion of Truth (Islam) to proclaim it over all (other) religions.  (He will) never grant the Unbelievers a way (to final victory) over the believers” (48:28; 4:141). What this means for you is that by accepting Islam you will be boarding the bandwagon of a triumphant religion and thereby your success in both stages of life will come within your easy reach.

Responsibility of the Non-Muslims: 

(1) Making a Right Decision: Given the facts stated above, as a non-Muslim you face a crucial choice in your lifetime. That is the choice of a right religion that has potentials for lifting your life from the bottom of dark hole of devastating failure to the height of outstanding success. It is not hard to sense the importance of shifting your loyalty to a current ruler that replaces the previous one. Likewise, the appearance of Islam as a major religion on the world stage deserves your active consideration for shifting away from worship of a variety of living or non-living deities, facing God’s warning “not to call any other god except (the real) God” (26:213).

In the same token, God reminds the followers of His existing other monotheistic religions about the necessity for switching to the newest version of His religion named Islam which God “has chosen for you” after having “perfected (it) for you” (5:3). Thus He “completed (His) favor upon you” and then urges you “not to die without having faith in Islam” (5:3; 2:132). Compliance with your above right decision makes a total sense as that will guarantee the removal of your past sins and acceptance of all good deeds needed for your salvation in the Afterlife that will start with death, when the earth as a visible floor during lifetime will turn into a dark roof of your grave.

(ii) Translating Decision into Action: You should not hold yourself back from embracing the religion of your choice under influence of any adverse factors.  For example, there is no point of your being obsessed with the religion that you inherited from your forefathers “even if they were ignorant and misguided” (5:104). Likewise, you should not allow prejudice or “envy” against Islam (3:19), “hatred” (43:78), overweighed risks of repression following conversion, inertia or passive mentality etc. to stand in the way of your embracing Islam.

    To the infidels or atheists, God gives a wake-up call affirming that He did not create the heavens, the earth and all between them, “merely in sport” nor did He “create (all) these for nothing” or “without a purpose” (44:38; 3:191; 38:27). The purpose is to bring you back to God for facing justice for your actions: good or bad. That will happen either after your death when you transfer to God “bare and alone” (6:94) or at the latest on the Dooms Day when every man will face communal death and then resurrected for placement before God on the Day of Judgment. So everyone including atheists, polytheists or believers in other religions, should pay heed to this warning and follow the “True” religion Islam (43:78).

(iii) Blessings of Conversion: Now that rare good news or “Truth has reached you from your Lord” (10:108), it will be more than justified for you to think wisely and act rationally by embracing Islam. This will open windows to your infinite blessings starting with “erasing of all past sins” from the point of accepting the Truth (8:38). This benefit was reaped by the companions of the Prophet after they had broken with their idolatrous past. If, otherwise, you make a wrong choice for not seizing this opportunity and as a result you face grave consequences beyond this life, then it is only you (and not God) who are to blame for your terrible misfortunes. They “rejected (the Messages) and turned away, but God can do without (them)” (64:6).  God therefore gave a final call, “Oh People of the Book (as well as other non-Muslims)! After a break in the series of Our Messengers, now has come to you Our Messenger Muhammad (pbuh) making things clear to you, so you cannot say ‘there came to us no bringer of glad tidings and no warner’ (5:19).

Conclusion: In this final appeal, you (the non-Muslims) are hereby urged to compare Islam with other religions by adhering to your fairness and wisdom. The purpose is to make a realistic assessment of the competitive strength of Islam so you can compare and act wisely “to set face to the right religion” Islam (30:43) for gaining access to infinite Blessings of God.