Al-Imran (The Family of Imran) Chapter 3 verse 104And that there might grow out of you a community [of people] who invite unto all that is good, and enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong: and it is they, they who shall attain to a happy state! 3:104وَلْتَكُن مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ (3:104)I am a Muslim, but I asked myself why am I a Muslim or how do I know it is the religion that is true. (All religions being true are another topic altogether, I believe there is only one true religion). Of course, sometime in the history of my ancestors, someone will have reverted (Muslims believe all people are Muslims when born) to Islam, and must have seen something in it to revert. But the fact is, I am convinced that Islam is true because I find no fault in it, logically and scientifically, spiritually and morally I believe it is true and is the solution to humanities problems. I find Islam, the Qur’an and more often the prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) mentioned and prophesised in other religious books such as the Bible or the Bhagavad-Gita. But my decision is not based on somebody else’s opinion, nor do I believe I hold a biased view on this concept, rather my opinion is based on logic and experience as well as information.
From here I derive my way of preaching. People (especially Muslims for they are generally more practising), try to right the ways of their sons and daughters by trying to bring them closer to their religion. Yet they don’t heed what you say. The reason for that – me knowing this through experience – find no logic in the actions they are expected to take part in. Such as in Islam a person is expected to pray five times a day, yet not all Muslim youth pray. This is because they find no logic in it, have no information about it and are not attracted to it. Many people just expect them to pray because you’ve told them to or have advised them to, yet they do not for they find no logic in it.
You have to explain your religion to them, and that in itself is a skill. What is prohibited or required has to be explained. Why is it prohibited/ required, what is the logic behind it being prohibited or required has to be explained. Examples have to be given and sometimes the person has to be broken down to himself/herself, leaving that particular individual speechless. You have to address the misconceptions that are even ripe in persons of that particular faith. References have to be given to back up your argument and the other side of the argument has to be given, although it is not always needed. And also, you have to give recent statistics based on the subject of debate such as the amount of deaths caused by alcohol. I’ll now give an example in brief points.
- Pork is prohibited in Islam and Christianity.
- Pork/ the swine contain several diseases and are natural cleaners of the earth (there are other scientific points as well).
- There is a misconception that Christians are allowed to consume pork.
- The Prohibitation of pork is mentioned in:
- Bible: Leviticus Chapter 11 verses 7-8, Deuteronomy Chapter 14 verse 8 and Book of Isaiah chapter 65 verses 2-5.
- Qur’an: chapter 16 verse 115, chapter 2 verse 173.
- The above verses are clear and are not metaphoric (as some people may argue).
This topic – I am sure – can be expanded on but I’ve just given a brief argument for examples sake.
Islam wholly agrees with science. That is why scientific references are extremely helpful and vital. The Qur’an contains many references to science, those which have only been discovered in the 19, 20th and 21st century. Such examples are the theory of relativity, the barrier between fresh and salt water in the sea, what the foetus looks like in the womb, how the mountains stabilise the continents etc. Alcohol consumption is a major problem in the community, and examples of how alcohol is harmful can be given, along with statistics of how alcohol causes more car deaths than anything else. I am telling you this as alcohol is prohibited in Islam and extremely disliked in Christianity.
Moral values are also a big part of preaching. Why a girl should cover her head, is an extremely frequently asked question. Logically you have to give an argument. Why you should not listen to music etc is also a frequent question. In such questions as stated above statistics are needed without a doubt. Logically you should have an argument at hand, and it should be valid.
Everything in Islam is based upon common sense. You have to use intellectual judo. Judo is using the opponent’s power to your defence, so that is what you have to do when preaching. You have to capture a person by their own words. Provoke/coerce them into what you want them to say, which agrees with their point of view and fulfils your argument then smite them. An example is given below in a conversation between a Muslim with a Christian about Jesus (Peace be Upon Him) being the son of god.
Muslim: So you believe that Jesus is the son of God?
Christian: Yes.
Muslim: And you believe in what the bible says?
Christian: Yes.
Muslim: So tell me, where in the bible does Jesus himself say he is the son of God?
Then you’ve got the Christian, as no-where in the bible does it state that Jesus is the son of God. Jesus called God “father” and God called Jesus “son”, but it is blatantly metaphoric and out of respect as God calls many people son, including the Jews, and God is called father out of respect. Another example is that the Jews are called the Children of Israel, but it is metaphoric and they are not literally the children of Israel.
Intellectual judo is also a skill, but is easily acquired.
The ways of Islam strive to create a better community. If you follow the rules of Islam, the community will become better. That “will” is guaranteed. Yet people see the ways of Islam as barbaric and oppressive especially to women. No-where is Islam barbaric and oppressive to women. Rather there IS a logical explanation to all the misconceptions in the minds of people, fuelled by wrong media speculation. These are what you have to address, even with Muslims themselves.
Why even to Muslims? It is because their frame of mind and thinking is influenced by not just the people in the environment, but DEFINATELY media. I put especially in capital letters for a person cannot comprehend how much media negatively influences people in the present age, especially fuelling hatred against Muslims. When ever a person happens to hear the word “Muslim” they immediately think terrorist. That is wholly not the case. Research suggests that just when speaking, a person only gets a bit of the total of what has been said. After that comes books and writing and at the top of the influential list is multimedia. The media not only has an apparent affect, but in music there is backtracking (When the song is played backwards you hear it). This string of speech is picked up by the subliminal mind and directs your actions although you do not know about it. These subliminal messages give false orders so are not good. In one of Britney Spears tracks, the backtracking says, “I like sleeping with older men.”
The media affect affects your frame of thinking, you views of people and concepts and creates a barrier of thoughts, ideas and opinions. So whoever is in control of the media is in control of you in more ways that you can comprehend. And the media is controlled by “bad” people but that is another topic entirely.
A free thinking mind is the biggest enemy to the devil and his followers (and of those who control the media). That is why the barrier created in the mind of men and women – because of multimedia – has to be broken and the stubbornness of your peoples biased views has to eliminated. If I said that listening to music, having a boyfriend/girlfriend, drinking and smoking is bad and destroys families and societies people would think I am mad, and that this is a democracy. Yet what they don’t know is that democracy is the rule of the people and the majority of people follow what they want. There is a limit. Where do you draw the line? Why the double standards? Before the present age pornography was illegal but now it has become legal. You probably think, “so what?” But morally it is totally wrong.The above ways mentioned are how to change people’s views, but above I have only given topics. Below I’ll give you a few examples.
People consider Shriah (Islamic Law) to be barbaric. People say executing a person for murder is barbaric. I thought about this and said to myself well it is barbaric for it creates fear in peoples hearts. What I was stupid enough not to realise was that if there is no fear for the law or for your punishment of course people will commit crimes. If people knew that their heads would be chopped off if they intentionally committed a murder then would people commit murders? If people knew that if they intentionally robbed their hands would be cut off, would people rob?
All people asked if their mother was raped what sentence would you give the rapist, then they all answered they would kill them. Some went to the extent of saying they would torture them to death. One person said they would send them to jail but when he was told around more than 95% of offenders commit the same crime once released from prison, he changed his views. So is Shriah law barbaric or just logical? You’ve got to change the peoples perceptions, their biased views, and introduce them to a saviour ideology, not the present ideology in which they spend their lives which can be summed up in one sentence. That sentence is “There is a tomorrow, waste as much time as you want, religion is for old people (or if your an atheist: we are an accident i.e. evolution). That sentence can be improved surely, but after some thought. By the way, science has itself demolished the theory of evolution. The education systems – remember – are also biased and controlled by “bad” people, and as the theory of evolution suites their views and ways of thinking, they are teaching evolution as fact. Evolution is only a theory, a theory proved wrong by science itself.
The double standards I mentioned above go as follows. When people have to judge someone else, they will sentence people to jail. But when they are to judge someone who has killed or robbed from their own family it is death or the cutting off of hands, as I said, some going to the extent of saying they would prescribe torture also. Why the double standards?
Logically the theory of evolution can be refuted. God says ponder on His (God’s) creation. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) spent weeks in the cave of Hira, just sitting and pondering. Look around. Evolution is just a fancy word for an accident. Can we be an accident? We only started discovering how the body and everything else around us works in this and the previous two centuries, and we have discovered that everything is exceedingly, very complex. The human brain hasn’t even been fully understood by men. The brain is more complex than the most complex human made computer. One molecule wrong in the design in the eye is enough to render the eye useless. An explosion destroys, but the big bang created perfect, universal physics laws, created a delicate balance in the universe, making everything relative to each other (as stated in the Qur’an). We haven’t understood half the knowledge in the universe yet. How stupid of us to think that we are an accident. One species killed affects a whole ecosystem. The perfect balance and harmony in the universe is not an “accident”, but an act of God. Great professors and scientists have admitted that we could have not been created by an accident but by divine intervention, i.e. God. People are too blind to ponder to this depth. For something like this you need to take aside some time, and sit in a quiet environment better in the open in the midst of nature. I can carry on, but evolution is such an illogical theory it shouldn’t even be considered.
With evolution, scientific facts are necessary. Not even necessary but vital. The best place to go is to www.harunyahya.com Harun Yahya is a Muslim who has refuted the theory of evolution and has written many books and articles on the subject. When science has refuted evolution, and the subject convinced, you approach the logical method as mentioned in the above paragraph. You can use logic at the beginning of refuting evolution as well. It is vital to refute evolution, as it is being taught as fact in schools, and if you believe in the absurd theory of evolution, then you disbelieve in God. The existence of God is proved by refuting evolution, and people who do believe in god should also be told about the misconception about evolution as it strengthens faith in The Divine.
Another thing is the issue of headscarves and the issue of Islam oppressing women. First and foremost, Islam gives more rights than any other religion as far as I know to women. It is just the issue of protecting women’s integrity, modesty, her body and beauty that annoys non-Muslims. It says in the bible clearly in Deuteronomy, chapter 22, verse 5 that a man should not put on women’s clothes and vice versa for it is an insult to god. The metaphoric part is that transvestites are prohibited in Christianity (as well as in Islam).
It also says clearly in the first Timothy Chapter 2, verse 9 that (King James Version) “In Like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” Is not that something like in Islam about the Hijab? As it says in the Qur’an in Al-Noor (the light) which is chapter 24 verse 31; it says:
And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and to be mindful of their chastity, and not to display their charms [in public] beyond what may [decently] be apparent thereof; hence, let them draw their head-coverings over their bosoms. And let them not display [more of] their charms to any but their husbands, or their fathers, or their husbands’ fathers, or their sons, or their husbands’ Sons, or their brothers, or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women folk, or those whom they rightfully possess, or such male attendants as are beyond all sexual desire, or children that are as yet unaware of women’s nakedness; and let them not swing their legs [in walking] so as to draw attention to their hidden charms And [always], O you believers – all of you – turn unto God in repentance, so that you might attain to a happy state! 24:31
What is so oppressive about that? A Muslim woman only has to cover herself up in front of strangers but not in front of those who are mentioned above. Muslim women do not have to cover themselves up by wearing the Hijab, or the full veil. Only a headscarf and loose clothing is required so a stranger does not see the women’s body. Muslim women only wear the Hijab because they find it much more efficient. So where’s the oppression, for I cannot see any. Only fools think there is oppression in Islam. Before – by Christian priests especially – women were seen as the gateways to hell, were seen as the property of men to do with them what they like, and were made to feel ashamed for being such a gender.[1]
The above point can be likened to why a man would rather walk on the nearest side to the road when with their wife as for protection; if a car came and rammed into them it would hit the man rather then the women. It is logic is it not? Or are you just stupid? I think it is the latter. I would rather call the caste system in Hinduism, the fact that nuns cannot marry, and can only ever take of their habit (which is virtually the hijab) when sleeping or taking a bath; other than that for their whole lives they have to wear the habit while the Muslim women only has to cover her selves in front of strangers. The fact that France requires women to remain uncovered and cannot wear the headscarf for fear of prosecution, which I would liken to forcefully uncovering a woman, the spending of millions on pornography and the society that encourages sexual exploitation with sex before marriage. Isn’t this exploitation of women? Isn’t this insulting the integrity of women? Isn’t this degrading women to a status lower than slaves or concubines, while in Islam the status of women is such that a person cannot go to paradise without total respect for your mother (and father); by looking after your mother in old age and as it is stated in the Qur’an. You are not even allowed to say “uff” to your parents. As it states in Chapter 17, verse 23
Thy Lord hath decreed that you worship none but Him and that you be kind to parents. If one or both of them attain old age with thee, do not say a word of annoyance (Literally, “Do not say Uff! (an expression of annoyance) to them nor repulse them, but speak to them in gracious words and in mercy lower to them the wing of humility and say, My Lord, bestow Thy mercy on them, as they cherished me when I was little…. 17:23
Women are being brainwashed into thinking that uncovering themselves, giving themselves freely to men, having sex before marriage etc is “freedom?” Isn’t this virtually selling women; not even selling but handing them over as if it were salt over a table? Isn’t this a society without moral values? Yes, definitely, undoubtedly and whatever other words can describe this fact.
The above is the way to state your argument, but not just in a debate, but when you are preaching as well. See my logic. Logic and Islam are compatible. And Islam is the solution to humanity and its problems.
Most if not all of the ways of preaching above are derived from logic and through experience. It shows how logic is in line with the ways of Islam, yet the whole religious teachings of how to; and why a Muslim has to preach have not been mentioned here. God reveals secrets to a person when it is time for the person to know them, when he is spiritually in a state of high Iman (faith, although a book could be written upon the word and meaning of Iman), when he is mature enough, and when the individual in able to take on his shoulders the burden of reality and different perceptions. This is the favour from Allah, and your own experience brings you closer to Allah; and strengthens you faith in Him and His existence. And then most of the logic in the way Allah has set out the religion of Islam; along with its rules are revealed to you through experience.
Yet before I finish, I must state that Allah did not create any verse in the Qur’an in vain. But rather, every single verse in the Qur’an has a much broader, deeper meaning; such a meaning that is not in plane view. Volumes of books could be written on nearly every single verse. Even this article cannot compare to the verse that a Muslim bases his da’wa (preaching) on. And that verse is in Chapter 3 of the Qur’an, in Al Imran (The Family of Imran) verse 64 which states.
Say: “O People of the Book! Come to COMMON TERMS as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah.” If then they turn back, say ye: “Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah’s Will). 3:64It is the common terminology upon which a Muslim bases his preaching. And the common term mentioned in the above verse is present in all major world religious books, although the followers may not know it.I am extremely sure that a book could be written upon this topic, but I am wholly not capable of such a feat.
[1] Marriage East and West. David and Versa Mace. PP 80-81.
