Category Archives: Muslim and Non-Muslim Dialogue

Christians Commit Genocide Against Christians in South Sudan

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South Sudan Christians Under Watch of the Army

According to several internationally reputed sources, Christians are massacring each other over power and control of the new country in South Sudan. Pictured above, South Sudan is known to be a majority Christian nation which ceded from the populous north earlier this year.

Several sources have condemned the Christian populous nation for its infighting during the last week, the BBC UK reports:

World Christian leaders have called for a ceasefire in South Sudan, where the population is mainly animist or Christian.

The Vatican and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, issued a joint statement calling for the country’s weak and poor to be “spared the trauma of conflict”. “Let us not yield to fratricidal tendencies in the name of our ethnic differences (which is what God created us to be),” they said.

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Rebel Christians Destroy Village in South Sudan

The UN according to another article by the BBC UK, has declared that thousands may already be dead due to the violence:

Thousands of people must have been killed in the past week of violence in South Sudan, the top UN humanitarian co-ordinator there has told the BBC. Toby Lanzer, who is in Bentiu in northern Unity state, said it had been “a devastating week for South Sudan”.

The UN also said on Tuesday that it had reports of at least three mass graves. One was in Bentiu in the north, and two in the capital, Juba. Mr Lanzer told the BBC’s Newshour programme: “I think it’s undeniable at this stage that there must have been thousands of people who have lost their lives.

“When I’ve looked at the hospitals in key towns and I’ve looked at the hospitals in the capital itself, the range of injuries, this is no longer a situation where we can merely say it’s hundreds of people who’ve lost their lives.” Mr Lanzer also said that the number of people seeking shelter from the fighting was “tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands”.

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Armed South Sudan Christians

Christian Girl Loses Composure When Questioned About False Persecution Stories

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My last post on false Christian persecution stories was based on a conversation I was having on a Christian friend’s Facebook post. Unfortunately, a Christian girl did not like the queries I was making, or the fact that I was questioning the obviously crass sob story that was being circulated. I got a notification that someone else had commented on the post and this is the out come.

Christian Girl Loses Composure

Christian Girl Loses Composure

It’s the Christmas season, you’d half expect these individuals to show some love, compassion, open mindedness, yet here I am being faced with insults, taunts and mockery, not because I insulted her beliefs, but because I merely questioned the authenticity of a persecution story when the evidences clearly did not add up or or make sense.

While writing this post, it occurred to me that it made sense that this particular Christian was emotional. To begin with, she was the individual from whom the article about alleged persecution was shared, so already she had preconceived and negative connotations about Muslims, it made sense then, that she’d be emotionally endearing in her manner of speech and behaviour. It makes sense therefore, that when questioned she’d obviously respond emotionally and without concern for her fellow man. Sadly, this is type of Christian is what Western Christianity is surviving on. Highly emotionalized and sensitive young Christians who see anyone or anything remotely unChristian-like to be a threat to the survival of their religion.

As you can see, in my response to her, I was cordial and quite pleasant, I did not need to insult her, no need to call her religion false, no need to mock her beliefs. I merely responded with Biblical references which call her not to be hypocritical in her manner of belief and treatment towards others, while conveying some factual points using references from her own scripture. I don’t expect her to reply in kind, but God willing, my cordial words to her will cause her to lessen her aggressive stance.

wa Allaahu ‘alam.

Non-Syrian Christians Fabricate Massacre for Sympathy and Donation Monies

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Sadly, a known Christian fantasist and propagandist is misusing the Syrian civil war to promote discord between the Muslim and Christian communities worldwide. Recently, Raymond Ibrahim and various anti-Muslim, pro-Christian sympathy fishing websites have been touting the possibility of a massacre committed by ‘Jihadists’ against an ancient Christian town. The article that is being spread is located here.

However, upon closer examination, the evidences simply do not add up to a coherent whole, but seem to be a collection of erratic videos with no consistent narrative or apparent association. To begin with, one of the videos is provided by Syrian State TV, the problem with this video is that all that we can actually extract from it, is that bodies are being retrieved from a well. We can take any video, post-battle and attribute to it any narrative we want. The fact that Syrian State TV is endorsing the footage and their associated context with it, is enough to cast doubt on the veracity of the video itself.

Another purported video shows rebels shouting Allaahu Akbar, or God is Great after fighting and winning a battle. In the video, the context provided is that these were innocent Christians who were massacred in cold blood. To the contrary, the video itself demonstrates that the rebels were insistently referring to the deceased as Shabiha, a term used to specifically refer to Shi’a Assad Thugs. Why didn’t they once refer to the deceased as Christians? If they were proud of killing Christians, surely they’d atleast mention the deceased to be Christians in some way? Since this isn’t the case, and they’re referred to as Shabiha repeatedly, we must ask Christians, what evidence is there that the deceased were unarmed Christians? The truth is, there is no such evidence to substantiate that claim.

Syrian Christian Fighter

Syrian Christian Fighter

Let’s for the sake of argument, accept that Christians were killed and intentionally so. Rationally speaking, Christians from inside Syria and outside of Syria have joined the civil war on both sides. Since Assad’s army, which now includes Christians, have been bombing Masjids and towns indiscriminately. In fact, Christian brigades have also publicly joined the rebels against Assad, see here and here. Christians are known to use sympathy for preaching and faith empowerment, claiming victimhood is nothing new to the Christian religion. Let’s however, for a moment forego emotion and think logically.

Christians will die in the Syrian civil war. Muslims will die in the Syrian civil war. Why? It’s because Christians and Muslims are both joining the Assad army and the Rebel armies. If Assad’s armies which are publicly known to be comprised of Christians and Shi’a Muslims are bombing Masjids and massacring the rebels, shouldn’t the Christians who joined Assad’s army not expect reprisals against them for their role in aiding the government’s draconian and barbaric attack on civilians? I don’t see a single Christian website condemning the Christians in Syria for supporting Assad, whose army is known to have committed numerous atrocities, yet these same Western Christians are using the deaths of Christians fighting on behalf of Assad’s army to claim victimization from ‘Muslim Jihadists‘.

One does have to ask, how lowly and desperate can Christians be to sink to such moral lows, for the sake of defaming a religion and forsaking their own dying brothers and sisters, simply to promote an anti-Islamic view? Is hating Muslims and fearing Islam (see Argumentum ad Baculum), so important to the Ministries of some Western Christians, that they must shelve any sense of moral responsibility, to use the dead and dying in this game of emotional puppeteering?

Emanuel Ionescu

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I’ve received a touching testimonial of one former Christian’s Journey to Islam, please do share this man’s journey to the truth:

My name is Emanuel Ionescu. I reverted to Islam in 2011 at the age of 21. The reason I say revert and not convert is because Muslims believe that we are all born with Islam as our faith, but as we get older, if we are not in a Muslim family we may be raised cc-2013-quranreadingto believe something else and in my case I was raised as an Orthodox Christian. Throughout my life I was interested in religion and as I got older I was reading more and talking more about religion with people. I always defended Christianity as the true faith even when people would tell me it is a corrupt faith. I would tell them that if Christianity was really corrupt, God would not let us believe in something corrupt without correcting it. Little did I know at the time that in fact God did so by sending the final Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to correct us where we went wrong and bring us back to the original truth. I should note though that many people I spoke to about Christianity were Atheists and from some other religions but I had never met a Muslim to speak to them about religion while I was Christian.

I had to discover Islam on my own and I am glad I was able to. Maybe I would have been Muslim earlier if I had contact with Muslims but then again, sometimes I think that if a Muslim would try to convince me that Christianity was wrong I probably would not have accepted Islam because I would not like other people to tell me that my faith is wrong as others already did. I believe it was Allah’s purpose for me to come to Islam in my own and that this was the best way for me to understand Islam as I will detail further on.

I knew very little about Islam while I was in high school and I tried to look into it a little more only for the reason that I knew they believed in the same God that Jews and Christians did. I was interested to see what they say about Jesus (pbuh) in the Quran and when I found out that they say he was not the son of God nor crucified I refused to believe that and so for some time I kind of left Islam aside, but I was being unfair really because all I did was read the verses about Jesus and not the entire Quran to see why they said this. As time went on though Islam seemed to always be in the back of my mind. I do not know why because as a Christian I was fine with everything they taught, except that I believed that Jesus (pbuh) was the son of God, not God himself but other than that I had no doubts about Christianity.

I should also note though that as I grew older I stopped calling myself Orthodox Christian and I was only calling myself Christian. The reason for this was that I was disappointed to see thousands of denominations in Christianity and it bothered me that they were all saying that they were the only correct path to heaven. I believed that Jesus (pbuh) did not teach us to separate into different sects and that to be a true Christian was to follow the Bible and what Jesus (pbuh) taught.

Anyway, so Islam was always in the back of my mind for reasons I can’t really explain since I didn’t agree with what they said about Jesus (pbuh) but I respected their devotion to Allah through their 5 daily prayers and that they were dressing modestly and believed in the same God Jews and Christians did. The turning point in my life with regards to Islam was in the summer of 2011 when I went to visit my godfather in Cyprus. He was living near the border of Northern Cyprus which was the Turkish part. I would go there daily and I went to visit the mosque and was intrigued at how they did not decorate the mosque with images or statues of Prophets, which I liked. I also heard the Athan for the fist time and that was a very nice thing to hear. When I returned home I finally decided to give Islam a more serious look by watching some documentaries to get a better idea of the history of Islam. After watching those I was interested even more and began to actually read the whole Quran this time and not just some verses.

I finally truly accepted Islam after reading the whole Quran and if it wasn’t for one specific verse in the Quran, I would probably still not have accepted Islam. The verse that I believe my whole reversion rested upon was Surah 2:79 which spoke of previous scriptures being corrupted. It was a sudden understanding in my mind which I had no doubts about what I had just read and it made me fully understand why they said Jesus (pbuh) was not the son of God or crucified. The reason was that the scriptures were corrupted and that they lied about Jesus (pbuh) and many other things. My whole idea that Christianity was the truth because God did not tell us otherwise was finally revealed to me that God did in fact speak again through Muhammad (pbuh) who did in fact tell us that the scriptures were corrupted as mentioned in that verse. A person may wonder, why did I accept that verse so easily and not investigate to see if what it claims is true? Well I did investigate, but not because I had any doubts, but just to reaffirm what I had now believed as the truth and to increase my knowledge and understanding of why the Quran claimed this thing, and my beliefs were found to be true with my investigations.

In the end Islam made sense because it taught the belief in the one true God, which Jews and Christians also believe in, it also taught to believe in all previous Prophets send by Allah from Adam (pbuh) to Muhammad (pbuh) which made more sense compared to the Jews who stopped at Moses (pbuh) and the Christians who stopped at Jesus (pbuh). Why stop and not also believe in the final Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) too? To believe in all prophets was like a complete belief, from beginning of revelation to the end of revelation. Islam also taught that the original scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel of Jesus were true but were corrupted as I noted earlier and it made sense with what I learned about them after reading that in the Quran. Now when people ask me I why believe Islam is the truth I can say to them the same thing I said when I was a Christian and that is that if Islam was corrupt, Allah would tell us and bring us back on the right path, but for 1400 years there were no more revelations and no need cause Islam truly is the final revelation. Islam completed the whole revelation of Allah with a book that was not changed as previous scriptures were and this in itself is a big proof for Islam as the true faith. Allah did not allow anymore corruption to take place and preserved it to this day.

I had no problem with my Christian beliefs UNTIL I read the Quran. I would like all Christians to read the Quran for themselves and really ponder upon what it is saying. Christians and all other people of other faiths may be OK with their current beliefs but there is something better out there and that is ISLAM.

Quick Update

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Unfortunately I’ve been busy the last few weeks, posts will resume shortly, God willing. I took a break from my work and realised that my debate with Pastor Samuel Green, thanks to Beholder Guardian has amassed over 13, 000+ views! This is jointly Pastor Samuel and I’s largest view count on any debate either of us have had. I really never expected that 13, 000+ persons would watch that debate, but Allaah truly knows best. This view count is despite Pastor Samuel still not having uploaded or posted the debate to his website or to the Answering Muslims website…..surely something’s bothering him about this debate, usually he’s quick to post and promote….but I rather not make any biased conclusions. The good news is, you can join the 13, 000+ other viewers and see what the buzz is all about by watching the debate here:

(It’s all in all, around 14, 000+ views from the various uploads by different users, but 13, 000 from one account is amazing).

Early Christian Believers Doubted the Crucifixion

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The Qur’aan says:

“And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.” And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.” – Qur’aan 4:157.

An early 2nd century group, the Basilides believed the following, whom they relate through the disciple Matthew:

“This second mimologue mounts another dramatic piece for us in his account of the cross of Christ; for he claims that not Jesus, but Simon of Cyrene, has suffered. For when the Lord was marched out of Jerusalem, as the Gospel passage says, one Simon of Cyrene was compelled to bear the cross. From this he finds his trickery <opportunity> for composing his dramatic piece and says: Jesus changed Simon into his own form while he was bearing the cross, and changed himself unto Simon, and delivered Simon to crucifixion in his place. During Simon’s crucifixion Jesus stood opposite him unseen, laughing at the persons who were crucifying Simon. But he himself flew off to the heavenly realms after delivering Simon to crucifixion, and returned to heaven without suffering.”

The above was quoted from the Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis, Anacephalacosis II, Against Basilides, page 78 (Brill, 2008).

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Basilides

We also read from the Nag Hammadi Library, from the Second Treatise of Seth, Chapter 9, he says:

“For Adonaios knows me because of hope. And I was in the mouths of lions. And the plan which they devised about me to release their Error and their senselessness – I did not succumb to them as they had planned. But I was not afflicted at all. Those who were there punished me. And I did not die in reality but in appearance, lest I be put to shame by them because these are my kinsfolk. I removed the shame from me and I did not become fainthearted in the face of what happened to me at their hands. I was about to succumb to fear, and I <suffered> according to their sight and thought, in order that they may never find any word to speak about them. For my death, which they think happened, (happened) to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed their man unto their death. For their Ennoias did not see me, for they were deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they condemn themselves. Yes, they saw me; they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. I was another upon Whom they placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height over all the wealth of the archons and the offspring of their error, of their empty glory. And I was laughing at their ignorance.”

Credit goes to Br. ‘Oeleju’ for pointing this out to me and for giving me the incentive to search for the information on Basilides in the Panarion, credit also goes to Br. Gomerozubar for informing me of the quote from the Treatise of Seth, May Allaah ta ‘aala reward them accordingly, ameen.

wa Allaahu ‘Alam.

FREE COURSE by Ustadh Ali Ataie on Christianity

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I’d like to announce that Ustadh Alie Ataie, whom I personally consider to be the most professional Muslim scholar on Christianity is having a 12 week course on the Gospels for free! This is an unmissable event, he speaks Arabic, Hebrew and Greek, he’s also graduated from a Christian Theological Seminary!

Here’s a little information on him:

Ali Ataie is the President and Founder of Muslim Interfaith Council and has been involved in interfaith activities for over ten years. He earned his undergraduate degree in Accounting from Cal Poly State University in 2000, during which time he served as the cc-2013-aliataiePresident of the Muslim Students’ Association . He has been both a guest lecturer and guest instructor at several colleges and universities such as Cal Poly State , UC Davis , UC Berkeley, and Cal State East Bay . He studied various Islamic sciences under local Bay Area scholars and has dialogued and debated with several Christian scholars on a variety of topics ranging from the historicity of the resurrection of Christ (upon whom be peace) and the Prophethood of Muhammad (upon whom be peace and blessings). He is a graduate of the Badr Arabic Language Institute in Hadramawt, Yemen and studied at the prestigious Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most eminent scholars in the world. He holds a Masters’ Degree in Biblical Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, (the first Muslim seminarian in the 143 year history of the school to do so), and is working on a PhD in Islamic Biblical Hermeneutics.

Click here to register for the free course!

Spaces are limited! Very limited, so please ensure you register early. Here’s the breakdown of the course:

Lesson One

  • The importance of interdisciplinary knowledge
  • Jesus (peace be upon him) and his confirmation of the theology of the Old Testament
  • An introduction to the Gospel of Mark

Lesson Two

  • The two parts of the Gospel of Mark
  • Eschatology and expectation of the end of time
  • The two strands of Christianity
  • The Messianic secret

Lesson Three

  • Gospel of Mark represents Oral Proclamation of Pauline Christianity
  • Matthew uses Mark’s chronological structure
  • Interdependency of the Four Gospels
  • Four Gospels are called Synoptic Gospels

Lesson Four

  • An introduction to the Gospel of Matthew
  • Jesus (peace be upon him) as the interpreter of Sacred Law
  • Matthew’s use of Old Testament to foreshadow life of Jesus (peace be upon him)
  • The influence of Paul on the Gospels

Lesson Five

  •  Sources of the Gospel of Matthew
  • Matthew changes the Gospel of Mark
  • Gospel of Luke
  • An introduction to the Gospel of Luke
  • New characters and their significance

Lesson Six

  • The role of Jesus (peace be upon him) in salvation
  •  Portrayal of Jesus (peace be upon him)’s character
  • The nature of Jesus (peace be upon him) as a savior
  •  Sections of the Gospel
  •  Sources of the text
  • Unique Lukan material and its significance

Lesson Seven

  •  Differences between Gospels of Luke, Matthew and Mark
  • Authenticity of verses on the Communion
  • An introduction to the Gospel of John
  • Comparing John to the other Gospels
  • Historicity of the Gospel of John

Lesson Eight

  • The person and essence of Jesus: only human, only divine, or both?
  • Was Jesus created?
  • Comparison of various views of Jesus
  • Authorship of John

Lesson Nine

  • The importance of the Gospel of John
  • The word “god” in Hebrew and Greek
  • Jesus (peace be upon him) as the Messiah

Lesson Ten

  • Jesus (peace be upon him) in the Gospel of John
  • Who is Paraclete?
  • Understanding sin and forgiveness

Lesson 11

  • Oneness of God
  • Jesus (peace be upon him) has limited knowledge
  • Jesus (peace be upon him) does not say he is God

Lesson 12

  • Review
  • Source of names Matthew, Mark, Luke & John
  • Source of the claim that Bible is Divinely Inspired
  • Language of the Bible

Debate with Pastor Green Uploaded to Nazam44’s Channel

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With 3569 subscribers and approximately 2 million views, Nazam44’s channel is one of the biggest and most well respected sources of Muslim-Christian dialogue and debate videos. I’d like to announce that the debate has successfully been uploaded to Uncle Nazam’s channel and is now free to view at this link.

I’d like to extend much appreciation and thanks to Uncle Nazam for uploading the video, making it accessible to thousands across the globe who frequent his channel each day. May Allaah ta ‘aala reward him abundantly, ameen.

Free Class: An Introduction to the Bible

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Are you a Muslim speaker? Interested in the history of the Bible? Are you tired of hearing contradicting information about the preservation and history of the Bible? Then this is the course for you. I, Br. Ijaz Ahmad, will be presenting a free course on introducing the Bible to Muslims this Saturday the 7th of December.

Please note, that this is not a polemical presentation, it is not intended to malign the Christian scripture. Look below for more details on our search for a Christian speaker and a Jewish speaker for the night’s event. This is an academic presentation based on Christian scholarly writings on the historical development of the Biblical literature.

Course Outline*:

  • What is the Bible?
  • Canons and Codices.
  • The Jesus Oral Tradition.
  • A Comprehensive History of the Biblical Text.
  • Introduction to Textual Criticism.
  • Responding to Missionary Apologetics and Polemics.
  • Question and Answer Period.

Free Literature:

  • A FREE Digital Handbook Summarizing and Expanding on the Course Topics.

Who Can Attend?

  • Persons of any religious or irreligious background can attend.

Where Will You Be Attaining Your Information From?

  • Textual Critic Journals, all citations will be given in the FREE digital handbook.
  • Textual Critic Books, all citations will be given in the FREE digital handbook.

Christian and Jewish Representatives Needed:

  • A Christian speaker is needed to introduce from the Christian perspective, their beliefs about the Bible, historically and faithfully for a period of 5 – 10 minutes, please contact us if you are willing to fill this open slot.
  • A Jewish speaker is needed to introduce from the Jewish perspective, their beliefs about the Bible, historically and faithfully for a period of 5 – 10 minutes, please contact us if you are willing to fill this open slot.

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* – The course outline is subject to change at the discretion of the speaker.

Note: Manuscript used is Judges 8:12-9:54, dated to 10th – 12th CE, Davis, M. C., Hebrew Bible manuscripts in the Cambridge Genizah collections, 2, Cambridge, 1980.

wa Allaahu ‘Alam.

Second Recording of my Debate with Pastor Samuel Green

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A great deal of thanks must be conveyed upon Brother BeholderGuard who not only recorded the debate, but also did a video for it, added quotations and commentary. If I was difficult to hear in the first recording produced, then please note that this recording is 100% clearer! Glory be to Allaah for this recording, as it’s clear and crisp in its audio:

wa Allaahu ‘Alam.

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