Author Archives: Ijaz Ahmad

Some Musings About Jesus’ Death

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

‎1. Jesus died for the sins of mankind.

What does the word death here mean and who is the Jesus being referred to in this statement? The latter predicates the other. For if it is the human Jesus which literally died, then this was not the Son dying. If it is that the Son died, then the Son was not a God.

2. When you say death, what do you mean? Do you mean the death of the flesh or the spirit? If it is the death of the flesh, then the Son did not die, but a creation of God died and thus this was not an ultimate form of sacrifice. If it is the Spirit that died, then is it the spirit of the Son or the Spirit of the Man? If it is the Spirit of the Son, then God died and God cannot die, hence it is a paradox. If it is the Spirit of the man that died, then a creation of God died and thus this was not an ultimate form of sacrifice.

3. If we take John 3:16 as a literal study, then we have numerous paradoxes being applied, for if the Son did ‘die’, but did not truly ‘die’, then the ‘sacrificial death’ was not fulfilled. If you claim the sacrificial death was fulfilled, then this is disproven by Thomas touching a physical body of Christ, whose wounds he felt. Thus if Christ was meant to be an ultimate sacrifice but did not die, but merely suffered wounds and continued to live, then there was no actual sacrifice.

Too many problems.

wa Allaahu Alam,
and Allaah knows best.

Korean Christians Attack Buddhists and Buddhist Temples

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

The Buddhist Television Network is reporting an increase in recent Christian love for Buddhists in South Korea. According to the South Asian TV network’s website, Christians in Korea have gone on an unprovoked spate of violence which seeks to threaten the peaceful co-existence among faiths in that nation. The report states:

Vandalism and arson of Buddhist temples and treasures, and important cultural properties relating to Buddhism by the Korean Christian and Protestant communities continue. Although many legislative laws have changed to protect cultural properties and national treasure after the tragic arson of the Namdaemun gate, national treasure No.1, vandalism to Buddhist temples and Buddhist treasures continue in Korea.

On October 4th, 2012, an arson tried to burn down the Gakhwangjeon Hall of Hwaomsa Temple in Gurye County, Korea. Fortunately, the fire only made a small damage to the gate of the hall due to quick actions of the monks and the fire prevention restoration made in 2008.

On the CCTV, the video captured a man pouring a flammable substance across the hall, and according to witnesses they smelt a very arsenic substance coming from the hall before the man threw in a match to burn down the Gakhwangjeon Hall.

Due to this incident, the Korean Buddhist community is in shock once again and fighting for a stricter law enforcement for the perpetrators of vandalism and arson to Korean important cultural properties and National treasures.

Furthermore, on August 20th, 2012 a Protestant pastor, Seong, vandalized the dharma hall of Donghwasa Temple. This pastor self-proclaimed that he was from the SoonBokEum Church, was caught urinating in the dharma hall and vandalized the Buddhist portraits with a permanent marker. His poor actions was captured on CCTV of the dharma hall.

The Buddhist community was outraged by this act and urged law enforcements to put a stricter punishment as this act cannot be charged with a simple invasion and vandalism punishment.

Although the law enforcement captured the pastor, they considered this act as “unusual” and let the pastor go stating that he was under mental disorientation. Thus, enraging the Buddhist community because the Korean government and law enforcement is very lenient towards destruction of Buddhist artifacts and National treasures.

On November 2011, the stele that accompanied the stupa of National Preceptor Jigwangguksa of Beopcheonsa temple, Korean National Treasure No. 59 was vandalized. A giant cross was drawn across the five meter stone statue and was opened to public on a christian man’s Facebook and twitter page.

Similarly, in November 2011, near the Haewundae in Busan, Korea. Four Buddhist temples reported vandalism and invasion by the Korean Christian community, as they spray painted red lacquer on the hands and faces of the Buddha statues.

Various vandalism of Buddhist cultural properties and Buddhist temples, vandalism and destruction of Korean national treasures have been going for several decades, and these actions are the root causes of religious disharmony between the Korean religious communities.

One of the biggest and significant act of vandalism by Christians was in June of 2006 during the “Again 1907 in Busan” festival by Korean Christians. The Christians prayed earnestly for all the Buddhist temples and monasteries of the Busan area to be destructed, and many Korean citizens were dismayed to find Korean President Lee MyungBak to be the congratulatory commentator of this event.

In February of 2011, there was another scandal where three pastors came to the Jogye temple and ordered the monastics to “believe in Jesus, as {koreans} we are all children of God.”

In 2010, a pastor and college students of the Christian faith invaded Bongeunsa temple and began a “Ground stepping”  and had a protestant ritual for all the ground to be returned to the land of God.

This was wide spread throughout youtube and the internet.

These various vandalism sparks fear of Buddhist discrimination in Korea. Korea is in much need for the harmony of religions, and these vandalism of the Korean Christian and Protestant community need to stop.

A religion of peace and love? Not in Korea I suppose.

wa Allaahu Alam,
and Allaah knows best.

Man Prays to, then Sues Crucifix

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

 

The religion of Paul produces some really comedic news! According to this report from YAHOO! News, David Jiminez, a ‘deeply religious’ and ‘devoted’ Christian, often found himself at the foot of this cross, praying to and worshipping it after his wife’s cancer had gone into remission. He revered the Crucifix which he believed cured his wife’s cancer. The problem is that he’s now suing that same Crucifix (Jesus and the Cross) for 3 million dollars in damages after the Crucifix fell and crushed his leg, leaving it to be amputated. As awkward as it may be, here’s the full scoop:

A deeply religious man in upstate New York who believes a church’s giant crucifix cured his wife of cancer had his own leg amputated after the same crucifix collapsed on top of him.

CBS New York reports that the accident occurred when 45-year-old David Jimenez was cleaning the 600-pound crucifix, which was allegedly held up by a single screw. Jimenez has been a frequent visitor to the Church of St. Patrick in Newburgh, N.Y., where he made regular stops to pray for his wife, who is now cancer-free.

“The screw is useless. It supported no anchoring system,” said Jimenez’s attorney Kevin Kitson. “David attributed the cure to his devotion to that cross.”

Kitson told the Digital Journal that Jimenez is planning to sue the church for $3 million after losing his leg, because he will not be able to return to his job at a pizza restaurant. The church has reportedly raised about $7,000 for Jimenez’s recovery effort so far.

Kitson said the legal liability should reside with the church for “telling someone to go forward with an action and causing this accident.”

wa Allaahu ‘alam,
and Allaah knows best.

Refutation: Does Allah Love Unbelievers?

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

This is a response to David Wood’s article, which bears the aforementioned title. He says:

One of Allah’s 99 Names is al-Waddud, “the Loving.” Allah is called al-Waddud twice in the Qur’an. In 11:90, the prophet Shu’aib tells the people of Midian, “Ask pardon, then, from your Lord, then turn to Him; verily, my Lord is merciful, loving!” Likewise, in 85:12-16 we read:

Lo! the punishment of thy Lord is stern. Lo! He it is Who produceth, then reproduceth, and He is the Forgiving, the Loving, Lord of the Throne of Glory, Doer of what He will.
Nevertheless, other passages in the Qur’an qualify Allah’s love significantly. While Allah is said to love those who do good deeds (2:195), those who are pure (2:222), those who are righteous (9:7), and those who fight in his cause (61:4), the Qur’an is equally clear that Allah has no love for transgressors (2:190), ungrateful sinners (2:276), the unjust (3:57), or the proud (4:36).

David has a contention with God not loving those who transgress his law, although when we read the Bible, the God which David also believes in, punished transgression, He did not reward it:

The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.

“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. – Daniel 9:9-14.

According to this passage, transgressors and ungrateful sinners were promised to be punished by God, David’s God. If this is currently not the case, or David would appeal to the New Testament and ignore His God’s history, then David concedes one of two things, or both, those being:

  • YHWH was unloving, unmerciful, hateful at some point in His existence.
  • David has double standards and ignores YHWH’s pronouncements.

What’s worse for David is that his poor reading of the Bible, brings into question the love of YHWH, for even YHWH promises to destroy, torture and punish disbelievers, while on earth when Jesus returns in Zechariah 14. Where YHWH promises to rule ‘with an iron fist/ sceptre’ in Revelation 2:26-28, all of which I have covered extensively in my post concerning Christ’s Second Return According to the Bible. David also seemed to have a problem with God punishing the unjust and proud, yet his namesake, David of the Bible, prays to their God and asks Him to punish such people:

“Rise up, Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve.” – Psalms 94:2.

The irony is staggering to say the very least. David goes on to say:

Even more significantly, the Qur’an states that Allah does not love non-Muslims:

Qur’an 3:31-32—Say [O Muhammad]: If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your faults, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. Say: Obey Allah and the Apostle; but if they turn back, then surely Allah does not love the unbelievers.

Qur’an 30:43-45—Then turn thy face straight to the right religion before there come from Allah the day which cannot be averted; on that day they shall become separated. Whoever disbelieves, he shall be responsible for his disbelief, and whoever does good, they prepare (good) for their own souls, that He may reward those who believe and do good out of His grace; surely He does not love the unbelievers.

David’s inconsistency shines through once more, as even YHWH, as the Bible testifies, hates those who disobey Him and break His laws:

Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird— no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. Woe to them when I turn away from them! I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre planted in a pleasant place.
But Ephraim will bring out their children to the slayer.”

Give them, Lord—what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry. “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring.” – Hosea 9:11-16.

According to David’s own God, He hates, He stops loving, disbelievers and sinners. In fact according to this verse, David’s God promises to never love Israel again. David’s own God, promises to damn an entire nation and stop loving them. Therefore, how can David say Allaah is wrong, when his own God, does the same?

Notice that 3:31-32 makes Allah’s love contingent on whether a person believes in Muhammad. This is similar to what we find in 19:46, which declares: “Lo! those who believe and do good works, the Beneficent will appoint for them love.”

How is this different to God dying for the sins of mankind (John 3:16) and then making this grace conditional on accepting Christ as a God? What’s the difference David? There is none.

Hence, although Allah is called “the Loving,” the Qur’an only means by this that Allah will love people once they believe in him and obey his prophet. The god of Islam has no love for sinners and unbelievers.

David seems to be forgetting that this is also the modus operandi of His God, as we saw in Zechariah 14, Revelations 2, Hosea 9, Psalms 94, and it is what his God promised in Deuteronomy Chapters 28, 29, 30 and 31.

Interestingly, the “Love me first and I’ll love you back” kind of love exhibited by Allah in the Qur’an is condemned by Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Except that according to these verses, Jesus is condemning His ‘Father’s’ laws as demonstrated above. Which brings me to my conclusion. David seems to have ignored what YHWH has said about Himself in the Old Testament, what YHWH has promised to do to unbelievers, ungrateful sinners and the proud when he sends Jesus to return, and what YHWH declared as an eternal covenant to hate an entire nation of people because of their sins and transgressions against Him. Double standards, funny aren’t they David?

wa Allaahu Alam,
and Allaah knows best.

Can Jesus Be the Ultimate Exemplar? [Video]

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

Mufti Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera has an excellent video on the deification of Christ by Christians, wherein he also expounds upon the Islamic view of Jesus. It’s worth the watch, especially since the Mufti is hailed as being one of Islam’s most popular speakers and represents authentic scholarship:

Indepth, education and sensational, this lecture is simply brilliant and very informative for both the Muslim and Christian.

wa Allaahu ‘Alam,
and Allaah knows best.

James White’s Arabic Tutor Fails at Arabic [Video]

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

James White has done it again. It’s easy to spot the mistakes of a pretender, an actor and James White can’t stop making mistakes. This time, he embarrasses himself, his Arabic tutor and his ministry by demonstrating the ignorance of his Arabic tutor. If you haven’t subscribed to Br. Muslim By Choice’s videos as yet, you’re missing out on all the fun. Check out the video:

James and his mistakes just seem to be getting worse. Thank you for exposing James, Br. MBC!

wa Allaahu ‘Alam,
and Allaah knows best.

Burma’s Genocide of Muslims

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

 

This image shows the vast amount of destruction done against an exclusively Muslim section of a Burmese town. In excess of 800 homes have been destroyed, 60+ killed and many injured. The follow article was sourced from the Guardian UK:

Burma’s president has admitted an unprecedented wave of ethnic violence has targeted his country’s Rohingya Muslim population, destroying whole villages and large parts of towns.

Thein Sein’s acknowledgement follows the release of satellite imagesshowing the severe scale of the destruction in one coastal town, where most – if not all – of the Muslim population appears to have been displaced and their homes destroyed.

The pictures, acquired by Human Rights Watchshow destruction to the coastal town of Kyaukpyu in the country’s west. They reveal an area of destruction 35 acres in size in which some 811 buildings and boats have been destroyed.

The images confirm reports of an orgy of destruction in the town which occurred in a 24-hour period in the middle of last week after violence in the province broke out again on 21 October.

The attacks in Arakan province in the country’s west – also known as Rakhine – appears to have been part of a wave of communal violence pitting Arakan Buddhists against Muslims that has hit five separate towns and displaced thousands of people.

“There have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burned down in Arakan state,” Thein Sein’s spokesman said.

A government spokesman put the death toll up until Friday at 112. But within hours state media revised it to 67 killed from 21-25 October, with 95 wounded and nearly 3,000 houses destroyed.

The president’s comments followed a warning from the office of the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, that ethnic violence was endangering political progress in Burma.

“The vigilante attacks, targeted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped. If this is not done … the reform and opening-up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardised,” the statement said.

The Burmese government is struggling to contain ethnic and religious tensions suppressed during nearly half a century of military rule that ended last year.

Inter-ethnic violence broke out earlier this year, triggered by the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men.

Releasing the satellite images, Human Rights Watch said it had identified 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and floating barges which were destroyed in an area occupied predominantly by Rohingya.

A committee of MPs led by the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi called on Friday for security reinforcements and swift legal action against those behind the killings and destruction.

According to Reuters, dozens of boats full of Rohingyas with no food or water fled Kyaukpyu, an industrial zone important to China, and other recent hotspots and were seeking access on Friday to overcrowded refugee camps around the state capital, Sittwe.

Some 3,000 Rohingya were reported to have been blocked from reaching Sittwe by government forces and landed on a nearby island.

“These latest incidents between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists demonstrate how urgent it is that the authorities intervene to protect everyone, and break the cycle of discrimination and violence,” Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific deputy director, Isabelle Arradon, said.

The latest violence erupted as a Burmese website in Norway – the Democratic Voice of Burma – reported it had acquired a document by a group calling itself the All-Arakanese Monks’ Solidarity Conference. calling for all Rohingya to be expelled from the country.

“Burma’s government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan state, who are under vicious attack,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse.”

Human Rights Watch fears the death toll is far higher, based on allegations from witnesses fleeing scenes of carnage and the government’s well-documented history of underestimating figures that might lead to criticism of the state.

The Rohingya are officially stateless. Buddhist-majority Burma’s government regards the estimated 800,000 of them in the country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, and not as one of the country’s 135 official ethnic groups, and denies them citizenship.

But many of those expelled from Kyaukpyu are not Rohingya but Muslims from the officially recognised Kaman minority, said Chris Lewa, director of the Rohingya advocacy group, Arakan Project.

“It’s not just anti-Rohingya violence anymore, it’s anti-Muslim,” she said.

It was unclear what set off the latest arson and killing on Sunday.

Muslims have experienced large scale persecution for centuries, the Bosnian massacres, Iraqi war, Afghanistan war, Gazan genocide are just some of the conflicts in which Muslims were the targets, often times women and children being the main victims.

wa Allaahu ‘Alam,
and Allaah knows best.

5 Arguments to Debunk Any Missionary [PDF]

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

A close friend of mine asked for some arguments he can use to defend himself against a persistent Christian missionary, I complied with his request and made a 3 page printable PDF that contains 5 basic arguments to disarm and disable any missionary. The arguments are simple, but effective, they target three key areas of the Christian faith:

  1. The Holy Nature of God in the Christianity- YHWH.
  2. The Sinless/ Divine nature of Christ.
  3. The Apostleship of Paul.

They are easy to remember, even easier to follow and can be learned within 10 – 20 minutes. The arguments are perfect for da’wah training, or anti-missionary work, even children from the ages of 7 could understand them.

Here’s the PDF via 4shared or [Click here to Open PDF].

wa Allaahu Alam,
and Allaah knows best.

Originally Published: October 1st, 6:54, 2012. Republished due to Scribd embed, awareness.

Sam Shamoun Runs Away from Calling Christians

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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

On the morning of Thursday 25th (2012), I decided to peruse Sam’s Facebook page. I then decided to respond to one of Sam’s intellectually devoid posts:

Unfortunately, Sam decided that he preferred not to respond and chose to delete and subsequently block me from commenting on his page. I see Christians who on a daily basis, run to Shamoun for help, they praise and glorify him, but here he is, running from Muslims. In fact, another Muslim (convert from Christianity), Br. Abdul Khaliq (read his apostasy from Christianity and acceptance of Islam here), who also began to comment on this comment thread was also blocked from further commenting. Why is Sam Shamoun afraid of discussing his beliefs and claims with Muslims? What has he to hide?

To the Christians who appeal to him, what does his behaviour demonstrate to you? Is he ‘defending’ the Gospel by running from his critics and detractors? David Wood (Sam’s buddy) who preaches ‘freedom of speech’ and who swears to defend ‘human rights’, why won’t he teach Sam to allow criticism of his uneducated statements? In fact, directly after Sam deleted my comments, he then posted a barrage of insults, abuses, curses which I have chosen not to reproduce. If you would like to see evidence of his lowly character click this link. In all honesty, I do not know Sam personally, but if this is the way he ‘preaches’,  it explains why so many Christians who have never heard Muslim arguments, come to our pages and for the first time experience a real discussion. Sam’s gestapo – like tactics can only benefit Muslims, as these same Christians of whom he shelters on his page, try to take his arguments elsewhere and are then soundly debunked, opening their hearts and minds to Islam.

Br. Abdul Khaliq is just one of many Christians who have apostated from that faith, even though they were blocked from Islam by Christian preachers like Sam, but praise be to God who gave them guidance out of the darkness they were enshrouded within. Please do see these links for further responses to Shamoun:

wa Allaahu Alam,
and Allaah knows best.

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