Are All Religions Alike? By Parwez - Resurgent Islam

_.. Are _--._
All Religions
..._... Alike?
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4t
AS~tVerse
The conclusion drawn from this verse is that ,the Jews,
Christians and Sabacans III'CI' claimed to have, conviction
(lmln) in Allah .andtbe life hereafter.,ooIy. There is no
claim ofhavina conYiction (Inian)in the Que'lln. ,
Whatever we have written ,up till now, wiu create no
difficulty ,in onderstandin. this.yersc.. The first thing is that
"to have convictiClll(Jman) in Allah and the jife bereaftef~
is not the end in itself. It includes all the five elements of
conviction ,(lmlln). Wherever havillg conviction (lmln) is
reiterated in ,the Qur'In, it is. for the coinplete conviction
(lmIin) -nbt for a part Of paIts.,The Que'lln is very much
explicit for this COl'llPlete conviction (lmIn) and says:
If the.e peepIe h.,.e COII'ridieR (lmln) In
It Uke die manner,... have, then die,. will
als. be r .... wi..die ......t path (2: 137).
The second thing is that, if the claim is merely of the
conviction (JmIn) in AJlah and the life hereafter, this verse
also' mentions of Jews and Christians in addition to the
meotion ofthe Muslims themselves. The question is: "Have
the Muslims beengivcn the same claim that they too have
to have conviction (l'man) in Allah and the life hercafter?"
If they have to have this same claim, then it is not
understandable as, to whom the claim is for having
conviction in the Qur'1In.
,
The meaning oftbis verse is self~xplanatOry. Before die
advent of Islam. the people had confined religion within the
folds of (races and nations). For examplft, Torah is fOf the
nation ofBani/sril'iI (for .Jews) and Christianity too. It was
because, in/fljil (New Testament), this saying is attributed
to Jesus (AS) that "I have come to the lost sheep of Banr
lsril'rI; the bread of the sons can not be thrown to the