PREFACE
We begin to write the book Islam and Christianity with the Basmala. All praise be to Allahu ta’âlâ, and may the best of prayers be upon His beloved Prophet, Muhammad (’alaihi’s-salâm), upon his Ahl al-Bait, and all his Companions!
Allâhu ta’âlâ has created everything, the living and the non-living, out of nothing. He alone is the Creator. Because He pities mankind very much, He creates and sends everything that is necessary for a comfortable, sweet and cheerful existence in this world and the next. As the most superior and valuable of His endless blessings, He has made distinctions for us between the way of truth leading to felicity and the way of falsehood, which brings about trouble and sorrow. He has always commanded goodness, diligence, and to be helpful to others. He has declared that He will call all people to account following the Rising after death, that those who do good deeds will live in endless happiness in Paradise, and that those who do not believe in the teachings of His prophets (’alaihimu’s-salâm) will remain in endless torture and pain in Hell. Therefore, we begin writing this work glorifying His Name and consigning ourselves to His guidance. We also see it as an honourable duty upon us to express our gratitude and love for those superior men called “prophets”, especially for the most superior of them, the Last Prophet, Muhammad (’alaihi’ s-salâm), whom He has selected as an intermediary and messenger to reveal the way of felicity and comfort to human beings.
This book is written in the nature of a “key” for those Muslim brothers of ours who have just a smattering of knowledge on how the Islamic religion has developed, and it has been written for those non-Muslims willing to know the fundamentals of Islam. Islam, the most up-to-date and the most immaculate of the world’s existing religions, is based upon very humane and very logical principles. Without going into details, this book touches upon the fundamentals of Islam and makes a comparison of Islam with other religions. It answers criticisms raised against Islam by its adversaries and explains as compendiously as possible the qualifications essential for being a good Muslim.
For those who would like to read valuable books on Islam written by Islamic scholars (rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ) after learning the facts contained in this book, we advise that they read books published in different languages by the Hakîkat Kitabevi (Bookstore) in Istanbul. The names of these books are appended to our books.
Read this book slowly and with reflection! Encourage others to read it, too! An ignorant person cannot be a good Muslim. Indeed, it is impossible for a person not to attach all his heart to Islam after learning its fundamentals. After reading this book, you will also realize what a lofty, sacred, logical, and perfect religion Islam is, and you will attach all your heart and soul to it in order to attain salvation and repose in this world and in the hereafter.
Mîlâdî - Hijrî Shamsî - Hijrî
Qamarî
2000 - 1378 - 1420
A Warning: Missionaries are striving to advertise Christianity, Jews are working to spread out the concocted words of Jewish rabbis, Hakîkat Kitâbevi (Bookstore), in Istanbul, is struggling to publicize Islam, and freemasons are trying to annihilate religions. A person with wisdom, knowledge and conscience will understand and admit the right one among these and will help to spread out that for salvation of all humanity. There is no better way and more valuable thing to serve humanity than doing so.
BELIEF IN ALLAH’S EXISTENCE
The young human being, a mere child as he is, begins to wonder from whence and how the things he sees around him came into existence. As he grows older, he better realizes and thus marvels at what a tremendous masterpiece the earth is, whereon he lives. When he becomes a highly educated adolescent, his wonder turns into admiration as he begins to learn of the elaboration involved in the things and beings seen around us every day. What a great phenomenon it is that men can remain and live solely by the gravitational force on a spherical, –or, rather, an oblate–, planet, which internally is full of molten metal and which revolves by itself in space. And what a great power it is, by whose origination mountains, rocks, seas, innumerable kinds of living beings and plants come into being, grow, and exhibit so many different properties. Some animals walk on the earth, while others fly in the sky or live in water. The sun, which sends its light on us, produces the highest grade of heat we can think of, effects the growth of plants and makes chemical changes in some of them to bring about the existence of flour, sugar, and other substances. But we know that our globe is only a tiny speck in the universe. The solar system, which consists of planets revolving around the sun, and to which our earth belongs, is one of the countless systems within the universe. A small example will contribute a little to our understanding the energy and power in the universe. The latest great source of energy obtained by man is atomic energy released during fission or fusion types of atomic reactions. Yet a comparison will show that the energy released in great earthquakes is still greater than the energy of tens of thousands of atomic bombs, which mankind proudly assumes to be “the greatest source of energy.”
When you look at your body you probably do not notice what a stupendous factory and laboratory it is. In fact, breathing is an astounding chemical event by itself. Oxygen, inhaled from the air, is used in the burning process of the body, and exhaled out of the body as carbon dioxide.
As for digestion, it functions like a factory. After the food and drink taken through the mouth are decomposed and digested in the stomach and bowels, the parts useful to the body are percolated in the small intestines and transfused into the blood, while the dregs are excreted through the bowels. This extraordinary process is done automatically with the utmost precision, resulting in the body working like a factory.
The human body does not only contain apparatuses producing various kinds of substances with intricate formulas affecting various chemical reactions, doing analysis, treating illnesses, purifying, annihilating poisons, curing boils, filtering various kinds of substances, and giving energy, but it also embodies an immaculate network of electricity, leverage, an electronic computer, an alarm system, an optical set, an apparatus for receiving sounds, an apparatus for making and controlling pressure, and a system for fighting against microbes to annihilate them. And the heart is a stupendous, ever-working pump. Of old, Europeans used to say, “The human body consists of plenty of water, a little calcium, a little phosphorus, and a few inorganic and organic substances. Therefore, the human body is worth a couple of pounds.” But today the calculations done in American universities have clearly indicated that the value of various rare hormones, enzymes, and organic preparations, which the human body produces incessantly, is worth millions of dollars in the least. As a matter of fact, an American professor said, “If we were to attempt to make an apparatus that would produce such valuable substances automatically and in precise order, all the money existing in the world would not finance its accomplishment.” There remains the fact that, alongside this material perfection, man has very great immaterial powers, such as comprehension, thinking, memorizing, remembering, reasoning, and deciding. It is impossible for men to assess the value of these powers. Moreover, man has a soul as well as a body. The body dies, but the soul does not.
A careful look at the world of animals reveals to man how amazing the Creator’s omnipotence is. Some living creatures are so small that they can be seen only under a microscope. For some others to be visible (for example to observe viruses), an electronic microscope, which magnifies a million times, is needed.
The efficiency of silk production in the greatest artificial thread factory comprised of automatic machines is far below that of a small silkworm. If a small cicada were enlarged to the size of a sound-producing machine used today, the noise it would produce would break windowpanes and destroy walls! Likewise if a firefly became as large as a street lamp, it would illuminate an entire quarter of a town to the extent that it is illuminated during the day. Is it possible not to get lost in admiration for such inconceivably perfect and excellent work? Do they not suffice to show how great and powerful the Creator is? Consequently, this universe, of which we see only a very tiny part, has a Creator with very sublime powers, Who can establish it, and Whom our minds are far too weak to grasp. This Creator must be unchanging and eternal. We, Muslims, call this Creator Allâhu ta’âlâ. The basis of Islam is to believe in Allâhu ta’âlâ and His attributes.
When we look around us conscientiously and when we read books describing the history of former times, we see that some things cease to exist while other things come into being. Our ancestors, ancient people, as well as their buildings and cities, ceased to exist. And after us, others will come into being. According to scientific knowledge, there are forces affecting these tremendous changes. Those who disbelieve Allâhu ta’âlâ say, “These are all done by Nature. Everything is created by the forces of Nature.” If we ask them, “Have the parts of an automobile been brought together by the forces of Nature? Have they been heaped together like a pile of rubbish which has been brought together by flowing water with the effects of waves striking from this direction and that? does a car move with the exertion of the forces of Nature?” Will they not smile and say, “Of course, it is impossible. The car is a work of art, which a number of people have built by working together strenuously and by using all their mental abilities to design it. The car is operated by a driver who drives it carefully, using his mind and obeying the traffic laws?” Likewise, every being in nature is also a work of art. A leaf is an astounding factory. A grain of sand or a living cell is an exhibition of fine art, which science has explored to only a small extent today. What we boast about as a scientific finding and accomplishment today is the result of an ability to see and copy a few of these fine arts in nature. Even Darwin,[1] the British scientist whom Islam’s adversaries present as their leader, had to admit: “Whenever I think of the structure of the eye, I feel as if I will go mad.” Could a person who would not admit that a car is made by chance, by the forces of nature, say that nature has created this universe, which is entirely a work of art? Of course, he could not. Should he not believe that it has been made by a creator who has calculation, design, knowledge, and infinite power? Is it not ignorance and idiocy to say: “Nature has created it,” or “it has come into being by chance?”
The words of those who say that all these countless beings created by Allâhu ta’âlâ with such explicit order and harmony exist by chance are ignorant and contrary to positive science. For example: Let us put ten pebbles numbered from one to ten in a bag. Let us then take them out of the bag one by one with our hand, trying to take them out successively, that is, number one first, number two second, and finally number ten last. If any pebble taken out does not follow this numerical order, all the pebbles taken out so far will be put back into the bag, and we shall have to try again beginning with number one first. The probability of taking out ten pebbles successively in numerical order is one in ten billion. Therefore, since the probability of drawing ten pebbles in numerical order is extremely low, it is surely impossible that innumerable kinds of orders in the universe came into existence only by chance.
If a person who does not know how to type presses on the keys of a typwriter, let’s say, five times at random, to what extent would it be possible for the resulting five-letter word to express some meaning in English or any other language? If he wanted to type a sentence by pressing on the keys heedlessly, could he type a meaningful sentence? Now, if a page or a book were to be formed by pressing on the keys casually, could a person be called intelligent if he expected the book or the page to have a certain topic by chance?
Things cease to exist all the time, while other things come into being out of them. However, according to the latest knowledge in chemistry, one hundred and five elements never cease to exist; changes only take place in their electronic structures. Radio-active events have also shown that elements, and even their atoms, cease to exist, and that matter, turns into energy. In fact, the German physicist Einstein calculated the mathematical formula for this conversion.
The fact that things and substances have been changing and issuing from one another continuously does not mean that existence, itself, comes from past eternity. In other words, one cannot say, “So it has been, and so it will be.” These changes do have a beginning. To say that the changes have a beginning means that the substances coming into being have a beginning, which in turn means that all of them have been created from nothing while nothing existed. If the substances were not first created out of nothing and if their issuing from one another went far back into eternity, this universe would necessarily be nonexistent now. The existence of the universe in the eternal past would require the pre-existence of other beings to bring it about, and those beings, in turn, would require others to pre-exist so that they could come into being. The existence of the latter is dependent upon the existence of the former. If the former does not exist, the latter will not exist, either. Eternity in the past means without a beginning. To say that something existed in the eternal past means to say that the first being, that is, the beginning did not exist. If the first being did not exist the latter beings could not exist, and consequently nothing could exist. In other words, there could not be a series of beings requiring the pre-existence of others for their own existence. Therefore, all of them would necessarily be nonexistent.
Hence, it has been understood that the present existence of the universe indicates that it has not existed since past eternity, and that there existed a first being, which had been created out of nothing. In other words, we have to accept the fact that beings have been created out of nothing and that today’s beings are the result of a succession of beings coming from those first beings.
Those denying Allâhu ta’âlâ and asserting that everything came into being by itself through nature, say, “It is written in all religious books that the earth was created in six days. But recent research, particularly the intricate calculations done with radio-isotopes, has shown that the earth came into being billions of years ago.” These words make no sense at all since the earth’s coming into being billions of years ago does not bear any implications concerning how long it took for creation. What could the six days written in holy books have to do with today’s twenty-four-hour day? The twenty-four-hour day is a unit used by men. We do not know how long the day mentioned in the holy books is. It may be that each of those six days was a geological period that lasted many centuries according to the units we use today. The holy meaning of the fifth verse of Sûrat as-Sajda in the Qur’ân al-kerîm is: “... To Him, on a day, the space whereof will be a thousand years of your reckoning.” (32-5) And in the Bible “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Pet: 3-8)
We cannot know when Âdam (’alaihi ’s-salâm), the first human being and Prophet, was created. We cannot claim that man has been on the earth since the very day of its creation. What we know is that man came into being with Allâhu ta’âlâ’s command and creation. It is impossible to take it for granted that the Neanderthal man, which is presumed to be the first man according to Darwin’s theory of “evolution,” has gradually developed into today’s man. In fact, it is illogical to profess, as some people do, that man was originally quadruped and managed to stand up only after several centuries. It is impossible for such a primitive being to have reached its present state of perfection. Therefore, we have to admit that those quadruped species were not human beings, and that they must have been some other kinds of creatures, which became extinct together with many other ancient creatures. All religious books state that the first man was “homosapiens,” that is, a being that could walk on two feet and could think. And indeed, as we have stated above, even Darwin has not been able to prove that a quadruped being with no distinction from an animal could have evolved into today’s man.
All the revealed religious books mention Hadrat Âdam (’alaihi ’s-salâm) as the first man. He is said to have “ploughed with an ox, sown seeds, built his house, and received ten pages of wahiy (revelation).” It must be believed that he, the first man, who was capable of taming cattle, building a house for himself instead of living in a cave, and was able to receive wahiy, came to earth after having completed his development, and that he therefore had no relationship with quadruped creatures living in caves.
A Muslim first admits with all his heart that Allâhu ta’âlâ exists, that He is sublime, that He is one, that He was not born and does not give birth, and that He is eternal and unchanging. This belief is the first principle of Islam.
PROPHETS, RELIGIONS, and BOOKS
When Allâhu ta’âlâ created man, He granted him aql (intellect) and the power of mind and thought. Islamic scholars (rahimahum-Allâhu ta’âlâ)[2] called man “Haywân-i nâtıq”[3] and the expression in Cartesian philosophy, “I think, therefore I am,” clearly expresses this fact.
The major factors distinguishing man from other creatures are: He has a soul besides his body; he can think, assess all events with his mind; he can decide by using his mind and carry out his decisions; he can distinguish good from evil; and he can realize his errors and repent for them, and so forth. But the question is: Can man use this most powerful weapon given to him without a guide, or can he find the right path and understand Allâhu ta’âlâ by himself?
A retrospective view of history will show us that when left alone with no guidance from Allâhu ta’âlâ, men have always deviated into degenerate paths. Using his mind, man thought of the Omnipotent, who created him, but he could not find the way leading to Allâhu ta’âlâ. Those who did not hear about the Prophets sent by Allâhu ta’âlâ first looked for the Creator around themselves. The sun, being the most useful thing to men, provoked some men to think that it was the creative power, and, therefore, they began to worship it. Later on, as he saw the great forces of nature, such as, a gale, a fire, a furious sea, a volcano and the like, he thought they were assistants to the Creator. He attempted to symbolize each of them. This, in turn, gave birth to idols. He dreaded their wrath and sacrificed animals to them. Unfortunately, he even sacrificed human beings to them. Every new event inspired a new idol, increasing the number of idols symbolizing events. When Islam first graced the earth there were three hundred and sixty idols in the Ka’ba. In short, man, by himself, can never understand Allâhu ta’âlâ, the world’s real Creator, the One, and the Eternal. Even today, there are stil people who deify the sun, as well as fire. This should not be amazing, because without a guide, a light, one cannot find the right way in darkness. It is declared in the 15th âyat of Sûrat al-Isrâ in the Qur’ân al-kerîm: “... nor would We visit with Our Wrath [the worshippers of idols] until We had sent a Messenger ‘alaihis-salâm).”
Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Prophets (’alaihimu’s-salâm) to teach His human slaves how to use the powers of mind and thought, to teach them about His Oneness, and to distinguish good from evil. Prophets (’alaihimu’s-salâm) were human beings like us. They ate, drank, slept and felt tired, too. What distinguished them from us was that their intellectual and assessment abilities were much greater than ours. Moreover, they had pure moral qualities and, hence, the ability to communicate Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commandments to us. Prophets (’alaihi mu’s-salâm) were the greatest guides. The final and highest Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam), who communicated the Islamic religion, is Hadrat Muhammad and his holy book is the Qur’ân al-kerîm. (The subsequent discourse on Islam will give further information regarding this subject.) The guiding utterances of Hadrat Muhammad (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallâm) are called al-Hadîth ash-sherîf. They have been collected in many valuable books. Besides the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîfs, there are great religious scholars who also provided us with guidance. But there are people who slight and disregard these religious scholars, saying, “Why should such scholars be necessary? Cannot one find the right way and become a good Muslim by reading Islam’s book, the Qur’ân al-kerîm, and by studying the Hadîth as-sherîf?” This presumption is false. A person who has no knowledge about the fundamentals of the religion cannot properly comprehend the deep meanings in the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Even the most perfect athlete will look for a trainer when he prepares to climb a high mountain. A big factory employs master workmen and foremen, as well as engineers. A worker who begins to work in such a factory learns the basic aspects of his job first from this master workman and then from his foreman. If he tries to see the chief engineer before learning them, he will not understand anything from the engineer’s words and calculations. Even the best gun expert cannot correctly use a new gun given to him unless he is first taught how to use it. It is for this reason that in matters pertaining to religion and belief, besides the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth ash-sherîfs, we should utilize the Works of those great religious scholars whom we call “Murshid-i kâmil” (perfect guide). The highest ones of the murshid-i kâmils in Islam are the imâms (leaders) of the four madhhabs. They are al-Imâm al-a’zam Abû Hanîfa, al-Imâm ash-Shafi’î, Imâm Mâlik[4] and Imâm Ahmad bin Hanbal (rahmatullâhi ’alaihim ajma’în). These four imâms are Islam’s four pillars. We have to read the books of one of them to learn the correct meanings of the Qur’ân al-kerîm and the Hadîth as-sherîf. Thousands of scholars have explained the books of each of them. He who reads these explanations will understand the Islamic religion correctly and well. The beliefs revealed in all these books are the same. This correct belief is called “the belief of the Ahl-as-sunna.” Those beliefs which were made up later and conflicted with the Ahl-as-sunna beliefs are called “bid’a” or “dalâla” (deviation). The common principles in all religions brought by all prophets since Âdam (’alai ’s-salâm) are the principles of belief. Allâhu ta’ala has not willed differences in credal principles. In the 159th ayat in Sûrat al-An’âm of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. He says to His beloved Messenger (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallâm): “As for those who divide their religion and break up into sects, thou hast no part in them in the least: their affair is with Allâhu ta’âlâ: He will in the end tell them the truth of all that they did.” (Allâhu ta’âlâ will call them to account and give them what they deserve)...” (6-159)
Who will a person with a sore eye seek help from? From a watchman, from a lawyer, from a math teacher, or from an ophthalmologist? Of course, he will go to an ophthalmologist and find out its cure. Likewise, he who looks for a remedy to save his faith and belief must resort to a religion specialist, not a lawyer, a mathematician, a newspaper, or a movie.
To be a religious scholar one must have a good knowledge of contemporary sciences; be a graduate of both science and letters, and have a master’s and doctor’s degrees in both; know the Qur’ân al-kerîm and its meanings by heart; know thousands ofhadîths and their meanings by heart; be specialized in the twenty main branches of Islamic knowledge and know their eighty subdivisional branches as well; be fully knowledgeable about the subtleties in the four madhhabs; reach the grade of ijtihâd in those branches of knowledge and reach a stage of perfection called Wilâyat-i Khâssa-i Muhammadiyya, which is the highest grade in Tasawwuf.
It is almost impossible for an ignorant person who is quite unconscious of his illness and the medicine for the illness in his heart to pick out the appropriate hadîths for himself from the thousands of hadîths. Islamic scholars, being specialists of the heart and soul, can extract and write down the right medicine for the soul out of these hadîths and recommend it according to the nature of the person in mind. Our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) is like the chief doctor who prepares hundreds of thousands of medicines for the “world pharmacy,” and the Awliyâ and ’ulamâ’ are like assistant doctors under his command who distribute these ready medicines according to the problems of the patients. Since we do not know our illness or its medicine, if we attempt to choose a medicine for our illness out of the hundreds of thousands of hadîths, it may have an “allergic” effect on us, and, thus, we may have to atone for being ignorant by suffering rather than benefitting. As a matter of fact, a hadîth declares: “He who, using his reason and knowledge, interprets the Qur’ân al-kerîm according to his own understanding,[who fabricates interpretations that disagree with what the Ahl as-Sunna scholars wrote based on our Prophet (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) and Sahâbatal-kirâm (radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ anhum ajma’în)] becomes a disbeliever.” Being unaware of this subtlety, lâ-madhhabî (non-madhhabite) people prohibit us from reading the books of the Ahl-as-sunna savants (rahimahumullâhu ta’âlâ) by saying, “Everyone should read the Qur’ân and hadîths himself and learn his faith from them. They should not read the books of the madhhabs.” In fact, their absurdity has gone so far that they have begun to call the knowledge in those books “polytheism and disbelief.” The fact, however, is that by doing so they have been preventing people from learning Islam’s very essence and, thereby, causing great harm instead of being helpful.
Now let’s talk about the different religions. Today, there are three major religions on the earth conveying the existence of a single Creator.
1. JUDAISM:
The Jewish religion is the religion of people who believed in Hadrat Moses (Musa), and people who have survived up to today from the descendants of these believers. Hadrat Ibrâhim (’alaihi’s-salâm) was the father of Hadrat Ishâq (’alaihi’s-salâm), who was the father of Hadrat Ya’qûb (’alaihi ’s-salâm). Hadrat Ya’qûb’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) alternate name was Isrâîl (Israel). Isrâîl means Abdullah and Abdullah means “Allah’s slave.” Therefore, descendants of Hadrat Ya’qûb’s (’alaihi ’s-salâm) twelve sons are called Benî Isrâîl (Sons of Israel). Hadrat Mûsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm) was a great prophet. He was assigned to the Benî Isrâîl. Their population increased in Egypt. They worshipped devotedly. But, they were subjected to oppression and degrading treatment. According to some sources, he was born in Egypt 1705 years before ’Îsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm). He lived in Pharaoh’s palace until he was forty. After becoming acquainted with his relatives, he moved to the city of Madyan. There he married the daughter of Shu’ayb (’alaihi ’s-salam). Later on, he set off back to Egypt. On his way, he spoke with Allâhu ta’âlâ on the Mount of Tur (Sina). He is estimated to have died some time around the year 1625 B.C. Hadrat Mûsa (’alaihi ’s-salâm) took the Benî Isrâîl out of Egypt. He spoke with Allâhu ta’âlâ again on Mount Tur. He was granted “the ten commandments” by Allâhu ta’âlâ. He communicated to the Benî Isrâîl the Awâmir Ashara (the ten commandments.) He also tried to instill in them the belief that there is only one Allah. He conveyed to them the Tawrât (Torah) revealed by Allâhu ta’âlâ. But he could not take them to the places promised to them. The Benî Isrâîl were never able to understand his divine injunctions. The state of Assyria (Âsûrî) invaded Jerusalem twice before the advent of ’Îsâ (’alaihi ’s-salâm), and Andrian, a Roman Emperor, in 135 A.D. massacred most of the Jews in Jerusalem. They burned their copies of the Torah; as a result, the Torah was lost. As time passed, the Jews became more corrupt. They divided into seventy-one sects. They altered and defiled the Torah. They wrote a book of religion entitled the Talmûd which has two parts: Mishna and Gamâra. The book Mîzân-ül Mevâzîn proves, beyond a doubt, that the books in