Answering Christianity Research Center

Quote from: thetruthseeker on December 24, 2015, 11:06:45 AM

This is a great way to put it: "Now regular friendship and kindness are allowed to all non-hostile disbelievers." I certainly feel this way about non-hostile Muslims and other non-Christians. Thank you again Osama!

Thank you dear  brother, TheTruthSeeker.  May Allah Almighty continue to lead you and open your heart to Islam.  Ameen.  You are a nice person and a kind one.  Happy Holiday for the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Messiah .

Take care,
Osama Abdallah

To 'QuranSearchCom':

The quote has been taken from: http://www.answering-christianity.com/marriage_islam.htm
(The same one you linked in your post)

The precise quote (the last line of text under the first two headings):

Quote

Important Note:  If we are not allowed to take the Jews and Christians as friends and protectors, do you think we should consider marrying from them?

To 'thetruthseeker':

From what I understand, the author of this article is using the word "Friends" in the sense that the Qur'an uses it, which is somewhat different from the usual definition of a "Friend". If the explanations on this website weren't enough, to explain it further consider the following:

Quote

If a friend is defined as – someone with whom a person has relationships based on sympathy, kindness, concern which includes charitable help and support, condolence and consolation and any well-meaning attitude of wishing well OR customary cordiality, adequacy in courtesy, pleasant and friendly behaviour and mannerly politeness – then, non-Muslims can indeed be taken as friends by Muslims.

The above is in accordance with the book Ma’áriful-Qur’án by Mauláná Mufti Muhammad Shafi’ (Volume 2, p. 56-58)
https://ia802707.us.archive.org/2/items/maarifulquran-english-pdf/MaarifulquranEnglishPdf-Vol2-Page001-672ByMuftiShafiUsmaniRah.pdf

The Maulana uses Sunnah of the Prophet & his companions as evidence for this.

Regards.

Again, Islam allows for Muslim men to marry Jewish and Christian women.  So being friends and living in harmony and peace with them is not forbidden in Islam.

And the Noble Verse doesn't say don't take them as friends besides Allah.  It says don't take them as ALLIES AND PROTECTORS over Allah, especially against other Muslims.  This is because they do remain as disbelievers.  Allah Almighty is our NUMBER ONE ALLY.

Now, Islam does not prohibit making alliance with non-Muslims in general.  But you can't make alliance with them against other Muslims, or against what Allah Almighty Commanded.

Please provide the link to the articles that you are referring to, and give precise quotes.  And to the reader, please visit:

www.answering-christianity.com/marriage_islam.htm
www.answering-christianity.com/sami_zaatri/friends.htm

Take care,
Osama Abdallah

Quote from: thetruthseeker on December 23, 2015, 08:54:08 AM

Thank God they did not burn them all!

But when we find in the current canonized Bible references about the Prophet of Arabia (the Servant who will come from Arabia WITH THE NEW COVENANT) in both the OT and NT, then I have no reason to doubt Islam, my brother thetruthseeker.  Please visit:

www.answering-christianity.com/predict.htm

Welcome to the board.  May Allah Almighty open your heart to Islam.  Ameen.  Please always feel free to post all of your thoughts and concerns here.  We would love to clarify any confusion or concern that you may have.

Take care,
Osama Abdallah

Hello!

Thank you for all your hard work on this website. I am a Christian, but have been interested to know what Muslims believe. A website like this takes a lot of time and hard work, so thank you for that!

In your article entitled, "Can Muslims take non-Muslims as friends?", you say, "It is clear that Islam doesn't prohibit personal friendships with Jews and Christians or any other people." You also say, "Muslim men are allowed to marry Jewish and Christian women."

But in your article entitled, "Marriage in Islam", you say, "If we are not allowed to take the Jews and Christians as friends and protectors, do you think we should consider marrying from them?"

That is a contradiction. Can you clarify, please?

Thank you!

Quote from: thetruthseeker on December 21, 2015, 06:28:13 AM

Further, we can take note of the following verses that demonstrate God’s plan to preserve His Word. In Matthew 5:18, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from  the Law until everything is accomplished.” In this verse Jesus declared that not even the smallest stroke of a letter would pass away until all is accomplished. He couldn’t make that promise unless He was sure that God would preserve His Word. Jesus also said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). Jesus again affirms that God’s Word will not pass away. God’s Word will remain and accomplish that which God has planned.

The prophet Isaiah, through the power of the Holy Spirit, stated that God’s Word would remain forever. “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). This was reaffirmed in the New Testament when Peter quoted the same passage and referred to it as “the word that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:24-25). Neither Isaiah nor Peter could make such statements without the understanding of God’s preservation of Scripture.

In Psalms 12:6-7 it says, "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."

Shall the pen of scribes made lie onto Israelite Scripture (not Greek scriptures) .  Yhwh sent His prophets to restore Israelite scriptures.

If you read carefully, earthly material doesn't last, written pages doesnt last. But the Words of God remain because the attribute of God is eternal. Thus His Words are eternal. Nothing to do with written books. (as reflected in Isa 40:8)

As for Psalm 12:7 the word them =/=  Words of God. Referring to a group from  verse 5.

Quote from: AhmadFarooq on December 21, 2015, 02:23:39 AM

To make the point more clear.

Just because Allah allowed humans to change the message which was taken to be as His word on Earth, doesn't mean that Allah was powerless to stop that.
It is the same as like when God allows all the suffering in the world, it doesn't mean that He is powerless to end it. It is according to His plan for humans.

The truthfulness of whether a particular alleged God is the actual God, depends on testing the promises that He makes. As far as I know, Allah never promised that all the divinely inspired books, in the hands of humans, will remain corruption-free till the end of time. Therefore, if such happens, it cannot be used as an argument for His refutation. This is according to, what is apparently, His plan for the humans.

I guess that is the difference between the Bible and the Quran, in this context.

The doctrine of preservation in regard to the Bible means that the Lord has kept His Word intact as to its original meaning. Preservation simply means that we can trust the Scriptures because God has sovereignly overseen the process of transmission over the centuries.

At the same time, Christians are aware that we do not possess the original writings/autographs. What we do have are thousands of manuscripts from which the original writings can be ascertained. By thorough examination and comparison of those manuscripts, it is determined what the original writings stated. This does not mean that there are absolutely no differences between the manuscripts. But the differences are extremely small and insignificant and do not in any way affect the basic teachings or meaning of God’s Word. The differences are things like minor spelling variations. We should keep in mind that this would not and does not affect the accuracy of Scripture, nor does it mean that God has not preserved His Word. God has supernaturally kept or preserved His Word.

The early scribes, whose jobs were to make exact copies of Scripture, were very meticulous. One example of their scrupulous precision is the practice of counting all the letters in a given book and noting the middle letter of the book. They would then do the same for the copy to make sure it matched. They employed such time-consuming and painstaking methods to ensure accuracy.

Further, we can take note of the following verses that demonstrate God’s plan to preserve His Word. In Matthew 5:18, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” In this verse Jesus declared that not even the smallest stroke of a letter would pass away until all is accomplished. He couldn’t make that promise unless He was sure that God would preserve His Word. Jesus also said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). Jesus again affirms that God’s Word will not pass away. God’s Word will remain and accomplish that which God has planned.

The prophet Isaiah, through the power of the Holy Spirit, stated that God’s Word would remain forever. “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). This was reaffirmed in the New Testament when Peter quoted the same passage and referred to it as “the word that was preached to you” (1 Peter 1:24-25). Neither Isaiah nor Peter could make such statements without the understanding of God’s preservation of Scripture.

In Psalms 12:6-7 it says, "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever."

We have these promises from God in the Bible, therefore, we trust that all that is written in the Bible as God wanted all of it to be there.

Thanks for the conversation!