But I do have this question - if its finished (no more prophets and such), then where is the salvation? The Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven Jesus taught us to pray for?
A detailed answer to this would be no short than writing a book. However, I would try to give the smallest version I can to this. Also please keep in mind, I am not a good or authentic muslim by any means, so please dont take them as authentic Islamic answers. I am just someone who doesnt do anything in life blindly so I find a logic and answer for anything that I dig myself into or i move ahead if it doesnt impress me. For authentic religious answers, you would have to consult with some good scholar of Islam.
Now coming to the question, the concept of Salvation in Christianity is very different from the Islamic concept. In christianity, you have the concept of "original sin" which summarizes that no human is born without a sin already contributed to their soul for the accounts of the original sin by Adam and Eve. Whereas Muslims believe that every child is born sinless and innocent. There is no such thing as original sin in Islam.
Quote:
SALVATION: This is a term that translates a New Testament word which, in its primary spiritual sense, sums up the entirety of God's deliverance of the believer in Christ from sin and its consequences to eternal life and its glories. By his death and resurrection, Christ saves us from guilt and the spiritual death that holds all men in bondage (Ephesians 2:1-9), from the dominion of sin over our daily lives in the present (John 8:34,36; 10:10; Romans 6:14-23), and in the future from all the consequences of sin (Romans 13:11). The believer is delivered into the kingdom of God and the most glorious of all positions, that of a son of God, sharing the gift of the divine nature and becoming an heir of God and a co-heir with Christ (Romans 8:16,17). Even though we will always remain only human beings, we will be made to conform to Christ's character (I John 3:2).
Christianity believes that the crucifiction of Jesus is their only factor for salvation and a person is saved from the fires of Hell because of the sacrifice done by Jesus through his death. Islam, on the other hand, explains that Jesus did not died and was not crucified either. Rather, he was "raised to heavens" by Allah, and since every human must suffer a physical death before the Judgement Day, Jesus will be resurrected and will come back to earth before the end of time. More explanation of this in detail along with Quranic references is listed here.
Now, salvation, according to Islam is in good deeds. A person should do good deeds throughout his or her entire life and hope and pray to God for His forgiveness. And God and God alone will decide on the Judgement Day as to who gets Heaven and who goes to Hell.
Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. - Holy Quran (2:62)
Also, good deeds alone do not guarantee a place in Heaven, and being a muslim alone does not guarantee that either. Anyone who believes in one God and does good deeds and keeps asking God for His mercy and forgiveness can be rewarded by the Lord on the Judgement Day. Following is a small and very beautiful chapter of Quran that has just three verses in which Allah swears by the time that anyone who does good deeds is bound to be rewarded both in earth and in heaven.
Except such as have Faith, and do righteous deeds, and (join together) in the mutual teaching of Truth, and of Patience and Constancy. - Holy Quran (103: 1 - 3)
And the Chapter 5 of Quran, called Al-Maeda (The Table Spread), precisely gives a lot of answers to your question of salvation and to whom does the Kingdom of Heaven and Hell belongs. I would say it only takes less than 5 minutes to read the chapter, so read it yourself to seek the answers. Here is a very good translation of Quran in english, with translations of each verse by three different scholars for better understanding. Following are the last few verses of the chapter:
005.116
And behold! Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Didst thou say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah'?" He will say: "Glory to Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, thou wouldst indeed have known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, Thou I know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full all that is hidden.
005.117
"Never said I to them aught except what Thou didst command me to say, to wit, 'worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord'; and I was a witness over them whilst I dwelt amongst them; when Thou didst take me up Thou wast the Watcher over them, and Thou art a witness to all things.
005.118
"If Thou dost punish them, they are Thy servant: If Thou dost forgive them, Thou art the Exalted in power, the Wise."
005.119
Allah will say: "This is a day on which the truthful will profit from their truth: theirs are gardens, with rivers flowing beneath,- their eternal Home: Allah well-pleased with them, and they with Allah: That is the great salvation, (the fulfilment of all desires).
005.120
To Allah belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, and it is He Who hath power over all things.
Our life here is just a test for doing good or evil. Any everyone of us is accountable for his or her own deeds. But anyone doing good deeds alone can not start feeling proud or start thinking he or she is going to heaven already. Neither anyone doing bad deeds should think there is no mercy for them. All that the religion says is to be good, be merciful, help each other and wish and pray to the one and only Creator for His mercy and blessings for the life herein and the eternal life hereafter.
Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 537 Location: Oklahoma, USA
18. Posted: Tue 27 Jun 2006 7:10 pm
Quote:
Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. - Holy Quran (2:62)
I remember reading that. I think what I read said judgement rather than last days, but I was very impressed by that scripture which seemed to me to go contraree to many of the other things I had read, but possibly I reading it with prejudice of mind and in the wrong language.
When I spoke of salvation, I was referring to the salvation of the world, not our personal salvation. I will say though, on this topic of personal salvation, we are very close.
But you answered my question, I must have missunderstood an earlier post you made, I thought you said Jesus would not return.
I don't know for certain if Jesus will return - I really should study that, but I want to believe that will he will return, so I will. Especially since someone had pointed out in revelations that those who did not care for the earth will be punished.
I do not expect you to speak for Islam, I expect you to speak for you.
Exactly, that was my point that I was speaking for myself while explaining the muslim point of view. Glad that you grabbed that point.
As far as I know the language, the word salvation is mostly used by Christians to define a religious belief of their own. The word is so strongly related to the concept of Christian doctrine of deliverance from sin, that almost all definitions of it that you find are explaining or defining the christian concept of freedom from the pain of sin, and its almost everywhere linked with the "original sin" concept as well. If someone tries to use that same word to describe their own religious or personal concept, the only acceptable broader definition of salvation could be "being saved from suffering of some kind; the state of being saved or preserved from harm".
Now if we talk about saving the world as a whole, then for me its first individual efforts and then collective combined. I can not tell anyone to be good unless I try to be good myself first. So it would be wrong for me to not sure about my end and yet preach the world about living peacefully in harmony and making love not war. For me, a person must first be sure of their end. If they are believers, they would be sure of either going to heaven or hell, based on their deeds done in the world. If we are sure that that is how the End would be.. a day when our good and bad deeds would be judged and then the rewards given based on them.. only after this surity we would be able to let everyone around us believe that its just the deeds that would count and till our end, every single day we have to make sure we are doing more good and less evil to ourselves and to the world.. so that we can live in harmony on earth and assure ourselves an eternal place in the gardens of heavens.. Everyone is accountable for their own deeds and collectively we can just make them grow more and more towards good. From what I believe, I am not accounted for your deeds and you wont be accounted for mine. So unless I care for my own deeds first, I can't contribute to the world alone or worry about saving the world from some sin. The sin of the world comes from my sins for being a part of it while i am here. From my understanding, the salvation of world is in me refining myself first and try to do less harm to every other human, and spread as much love and goodness as I can to others. A world without humans would be just one of the billion planets made of rocks and chemicals, and humans without the will to help are just like barren trees standing on their own, eventually falling one day.
I am not too sure about other parts of the world, but from the land I was born, we call earth as our Mother .. the mother land. This planet is like a mother to us and it is just in our blood to be so caring and loving to it and so attached that we still link earthquakes and hurricanes and lightning as a sign of distress from God from bringing evil to this lovely planet thats our home. This perfectly created planet was chosen as our home and we were chosen as the best specie on it, gifted with life and the power to explore. If for a moment we even accept that it all happened as a random expansion of matter, this perfect coincidence and balance of life is only available to us in this planet. And we are so busy exploiting it each day..
and then you have Cat Stevens, a most highly respected man who has converted to Islam
Here is an interesting video of two songs (nasheeds to be exact, because singing for lust is forbidden in Islam as its a distraction of the soul towards evil desires, but nasheed and praising the Lord and the prophets or the nature and creation with non lustful lyrics and healthy entertaining music on various occasions is considered okay).
These songs were performed in the celebration of the birthdate of the Holy Prophet, by Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Joined: 06 Nov 2004 Posts: 360 Location: Vancouver, Canada
21. Posted: Sat 2 Sep 2006 3:06 pm Yosuf !
Thanks for the video Khurram! Me Loves YUSUF and I am so glad he is performing again. He is a gift and his voice is still as fresh as it was when he was a teen. I know ALL about this man with the BIG SUFI SOUL and how, when and why he converted to Islam. He is one of the most peaceful men on the planet and even his popular music of the 70's was NEVER lustful...always romantic and spiritual. Okcitykid...remember PEACE TRAIN. Khurram,I think you and I have discussed him sometime and somewhere before..probably when he got banned from entering the U.S. a while back. One of my favourites is his old song "The Wind". It is so Rumi.
I listen to the wind, to the wind of my soul
Where I'll end up
Well I think only God only know.
I've set upon the setting sun
But never, never, never
I never wanted water once
No never, never, never
I listen to my words but they fall far below
I let my music take me
Where my heart wants to go
I swam upon the devil's lake
But I'll never, never, never
I'll never make the same mistake
No never, never, never
Do you have any more videos of him performing? How about "A is for Allah" ?
Sorry...I'm meandering from the current topic
Yeah i remember i first heard of him from you soofie. He does sound beautiful and appears a very calm peaceful man, now that I see and hear his music and learn more about him.
Here are two more interviews of Yusuf, which also have video footage of his famous songs including the 1976 Peace Train and the 2003 Peace Train.
The Qasida Burda ("Poem of the Mantle" or "Poem of the Scarf") is one of the most famous naat or poem in the qasida (nasheed) form. It was written in Arabic by "Sharafuddin al-Busiri" (d. 1296). It is recited by Muslims throughout the Muslim world, from Senegal to Indonesia.
The following video and audio is not full Qasida Burda, but a few verses taken from here and there of the full qasida (full qasida burda has 10 parts and 160 verses total). This video is narrated by "Muhammad Al Husayan" and its from his album "Mawlay".
The power of arabic language can be felt from this video too. may peace and blessings be upon Muhammad the beloved Messenger of God.
There is an interesting history attached to the Qasida Burda. The history, online audio and mp3 download of above qasida burda by al-husayn and another version by mesut kurtis can be found here.
Qasida Burda is one of the most lovely poems to listen to and to express love to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) for delivering to humanity the blessings of Quran and Islam, the message of the one and only Creator.
An excellent naat (nasheed or poem praising the Prophet of God) by Pakistan's most prominent naat khwaan (nasheed narrator) Qari Waheed Zafar Qasmi.
The naat is narrated in a combination of urdu and arabic languages and video has excellent still images of nature and holy places around the world. This perhaps is one of the most heard naat in Pakistan.
Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 537 Location: Oklahoma, USA
27. Posted: Mon 25 Dec 2006 1:27 pm
I love cat stevens - sorry if had taken so long to reply to these posts, I did not know they were there - I don't get all my email all the time, I believe others read it.
Cat Stevens stopped singing and we were told because of a religeon he had joined but were never told what religion.
I'm glad he's singing again.
It is so unbelievable that Cat Steven is now considered a terrorist and is not allowed in the United States, but when he did fly through here, I'm glad that they didn't arrest him, but only sent back to where he came from.
I found something interesting. Well the same Yousuf Islam who was denied entry into USA in Oct. 2004 for "concerns of ties he may have to potential terrorist-related activities" was awarded the Man for Peace award in Nov. of the same year 2004 by World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates to recognize individuals who offered "an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace". The motivations for the award were read out at the summit: "For having dedicated the most part of his life in the promotion of peace and reconciliation among peoples and for having condemned terrorism."
He was recently there in USA in December 2006. This time he was allowed entry without any problem.
In 2004, he was turned away when he tried to enter the United States because his name was on the no-fly list created to fight terrorism. With that London-to-Washington trip, Mr. Islam said on Tuesday, he was headed for Nashville, where he had booked recording sessions and musicians. The deportation led to official protests from the foreign office of Great Britain, where Mr. Islam is a citizen and has spoken repeatedly against terrorism. He was allowed into the United States this time without incident. Visiting the United States now, he said onstage, was, “One small step for a man, one giant step for common sense.”
I guess his comments said it all
Oh, and even this year, he performed in the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo December 11, 2006.
After two years of angry worldwide protests, hundreds of muslim deaths and condemnation by every sensible person, the racist extremist radical newspapers of denmark again published the caricatures (cartoons) of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
Jyllands-Posten and many other major newspapers, including Politiken and Berlingske Tidende, reprinted the caricature in their Wednesday editions, last week. Dutch newspapers also reprinted the same 12 original cartoons, including some additional. The cartoons were also broadcasted on television.
And the ignorant extremist racist anti-islamic western media prefers to call Islam as a violent religion.
The religion of God can not be insulted or defeated by extremism or hatred. God gave this religion himself to mankind, and God himself promised to protect it.
This time the response from muslims worldwide was not furious, as the muslims perhaps have learned overtime with the events in the world, that these are not accidents, these are purposeful hatred filled incidents directed towards spreading misinformation and disgrace to Islam.
Those who study the book and religion know that God Himself takes cares of affairs related to His prophets and Scripture, and the Holy Prophet Muhammad taught muslims to be forgiving and he forgave even those who fought wars against him. The light and message of truth can never be suppressed by propaganda and hatred. Truth reveals itself. And its only those who have something to hide in their hearts, who are afraid of the truth. Time will itself show the wickedness of such acts one day, to those who blaspheme and disgrace the Prophets of the One and Only Creator. There were people before us who even killed and slaughtered the Holy Prophets of the same God, and history has shown how God treated those nations.
We just have to patiently pray to God for His mercy, blessings and forgiveness to those who know, and to those who dont know. That is the best answer to such evil deeds.
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Oh thank you Khurram.
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the beloved Messenger of God.
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