PRINCIPLES FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE.pdf - CUEA

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unjust, and as such they are deprived of God’s guidance, with all the consequences that follow for their salvation: How shall God guide those who reject faith after they accepted it, and bore witness that the Apostle was true, and that clear signs had come to them? But God guides not a people unjust (Q 3:86; see also vv. 87-91). On the other hand, the Qur’an denounces the attitude of “the People of the Book”, who exerted pressure on the newly converted to Islam to induce them to retract. There is no doubt that the polemics between the dawning Islam and the old religions were sharp. In this atmosphere the Qur’an urges the persons who embraced Islam to remain firmly in their new faith till death, to close their ranks, to refuse to listen to those who strive to render them apostates, and to keep out of their trap. They are also reminded of their former state of disunion when they were “on the brink of the Pit of Fire”, and they are exhorted to be a people “inviting to all that is good” in order to ensure their final salvation. Let us quote: Say: O People of the book: Why obstruct ye those who believe from the path of God, seeking to make it crooked, while ye were yourselves witnesses thereof? But God is not unmindful of all that ye do. O ye who believe! If you obey a faction of those who have been given the Book, they will turn you back into disbelievers after you have believed. And how would you disbelieve, while you have rehearsed the signs of God, and His Messenger is among you? And he who holds fast to God is indeed guided to the right path. O ye who believe! Fear God as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam. And hold fast, all together, by the rope of God, and be not divided, and remember God’s favour on you: for ye were enemies, and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His grace, ye became brethren; and ye were on the brink of the Pit of Fire, and He save you from it. Thus doeth God make His signs clear to you, that ye may be guided. Created by DEAN-FASSFrederic Ntedika Mvumbi, OP Page 34 of 37
Let there arise out of you a community inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong. They are the ones to attain felicity. (Q 3:99-104) Thus, unceasingly and by all means, the Qur’an strives to raise the new Muslims’ spirit, in order to prevent them from falling into apostasy. the argumentation is only moral. The Qur’an goes on: It is “from selfish envy” that “quite a number of the People of the Book wish they could turn you back to infidelity” (Q 2:109; see too 3:149); you have not to fear them, “God is your Protector, and He is the best of helpers; soon shall He cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers” (Q 3:150-151); “your real friends are God, His Messenger, and the believers.. It is the party of God that must certainly triumph... Therefore take not for friends those who take your religion for a mockery or sport..” (Q 5:58-60). And finally, those who, in spite of all that, allow themselves to be tempted by apostasy, they are forewarned: if they desert the cause, the cause anyhow will not fail. Others will bring it to a head. O ye who believe! If any from among you turn back from his faith, soon will God produce a people whom He will love as they will love Him, — lowly with the believers, mighty against the rejecters, striving in the way of God, and never afraid of the reproaches of a fault finder. That is the grace of God, which He will bestow on whom He pleased. And God is Bountiful, All-Knowing (Q 5:57; see too 47:38) *The Qur’an warns The young Muslim community is thus given plenty of reasons to remain in their new religion. The members of this community are also warned that for their salvation they should not depart from their faith. They are urged to follow the true spirit of Islam, and this spirit is defined in two ways: first they will love God and God will love them; secondly they will be humble amongst their brethren, but they will not fear the wrongdoers and they will not compound with them. If by fear, weakness or time-serving, they depart from this line of conduct and fall in to apostasy, the loss will be their own and the punishment will be hard in the hereafter. “And if any of you turn back from their faith, and die in unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life. And in the hereafter they will be companions of the Fire, and will abide therein” Created by DEAN-FASSFrederic Ntedika Mvumbi, OP Page 35 of 37
Page 1 and 2: PRINCIPLES FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALO
Page 3 and 4: Thus, more than what Plato says, In
Page 5 and 6: the Church through Vatican II Counc
Page 7 and 8: WHAT IS INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE? Th
Page 9 and 10: *Living together in spite of our di
Page 11 and 12: FORMS OF INTERRELIOUS DIALOGUE Expe
Page 13 and 14: seeing what Christians and Muslims
Page 15 and 16: With this trust, Muhammad did not h
Page 17 and 18: of peaceful accommodation. With tha
Page 19 and 20: Even if the Umayyad rulers did not
Page 21 and 22: y them. Therefore the Muslims and t
Page 23 and 24: Carthage were by nature the enemies
Page 25 and 26: From the beginning, in our Islamic
Page 27 and 28: To the best of my knowledge, among
Page 29 and 30: in the sight of God is he who is th
Page 31 and 32: of tolerance and real prosperity, v
Page 33: C. The Qur’ânic teaching In any
Page 37: apostasy. We have seen, with regard

PRINCIPLES FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE.pdf - CUEA

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