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What if i am wrong?What should i do?

By: admin

Question

The concern I’m about to relate may at first come off as irrelevant to Islam, but I have been sharing it with a number of people and am still troubled.


Since I decided to become a practicing Muslim, I feel as though God has showered His Love and Mercy on me, even though I really never deserved it. I feel guided and I feel intensely close to Him during my prayers. However, since I want to keep an open mind to any and every truth that comes my way, I study other religions as well. In particular, I have been studying Christianity recently and find myself disturbed because of the following two statements in the Bible:


“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).


“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'” (John 14:6).


Most Christians believe that these two passages, taken together, imply that anyone who does not accept Jesus Christ (pbuh) as savior goes to Hell. Now, obviously, as a Muslim I do not accept Jesus as my savior and I do not even necessarily see why John 14:6 takes on the meaning Christians say it does. Could it not simply indicate that a person who wishes to reach the Father has to follow Jesus’ example: his way, his truth, and his life?


As a Muslim, I am able to accept most of Jesus’ directly quoted sayings in the gospels without question, since they are in complete accordance with Islamic teachings. I have my doubts and reservations about Christianity, and I honestly feel Islam is the truth of God, but because I am human, I acknowledge that I could be wrong. It seems to me that a Just and Merciful God would reward people just for making sincere efforts in His way, but then I might be terribly confused about justice. I ask God at least 5 times a day to show me the truth, wherever it may be. As I see it, there isn’t really much else for me to do, except hope that God will allow me to find the real truth one day (if it happens to be the case that I am in error at the moment).


I agree wholeheartedly with your view that a person should succeed with God if he/she sincerely submits to what he/she understands to be God’s truth, but I wonder if this reasoning squares with the following verse:


“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7).


I am in the process of searching, asking, and knocking on the Almighty’s door. I suppose if I was wrong all along, yet sincerely desired to know His truth, I would be forgiven. “No,” says the Christian, “tough luck, for narrow is the gate that leads to life.” And we’re right back where we started. My question is: do you think my approach is correct? Is there anything else I can do? As always, I look forward to your advice. Thank you.

Reply

My dear brother, when we talk about the success and failure of the life hereafter, we must bear in mind that the decision on that Day will be in the hands of our Merciful and Just Creator. Our Creator is not bent upon punishing people. On the contrary, He punishes only those, who knowingly transgress.

I do acknowledge that our concepts of Justice and Mercy may be extremely ‘limited’, but I am not willing to accept that our concepts of these phenomena are ‘different’. When we say that God is Just and Merciful, we know what justice and mercy are, even though we may not be able to even imagine the extent of God’s Justice and His Mercy.

My dear brother, even with our ‘extremely limited’ concepts of ‘Justice’ and ‘Mercy’, can we bring ourselves to believe that God will subject people to severe punishments for their unintentional mistakes? Would it be justice and mercy to hold a person responsible for something which was beyond his abilities? Would we, with our extremely limited concept of justice and mercy, like to forgive a person whom we know to have given his best, even though he did not achieve the desired results, or would we like to penalize him? I really do not think that there can be a serious difference of opinion on these issues.

Coming to the verses of the Gospels, I really do not consider them to hinder your point of view. These verses, as I understand them, do not relate to the issue that disturbs your mind. Take the first verse:

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

This verse is an eloquent example in which the Christ has compared the path of piety with that of impiety. The ‘narrow gate’ is the gate of piety – this ‘road’, in the life of this world, is hard to tread and there are not many people, who resolve to tread it, but, nonetheless, this gate leads to ‘life’. The ‘wide gate’ is the gate of impiety – this ‘road’, in the life of this world, is easy to tread and many are driven by their desires to tread it, but, nevertheless, it ultimately leads to ‘death’.

This beautiful analogy reminds us that even though the path of impiety is adorned with great pleasures and apparent comforts and is treaded by most of the people, yet these pleasures and comforts are temporary in nature and at the end of this ‘road’ the person will be faced with extreme punishments. In contrast to this comfortable path, the path to piety is difficult to tread. The person, who resolves to tread it, has to keep a strong check on his desires and inclinations; he is faced with apparent losses and forgone pleasures; it requires real commitment and reliance on God’s mercy to tread it successfully, yet this path ultimately leads to everlasting life of pleasure, clear of all fears and regrets.

The second cited verse of the Gospel is as follows:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'” (John 14:6).

The content of this verse is absolutely correct and in keeping with the Islamic beliefs. A prophet of God is the sole link between human beings and God. Those, who are desirous of attaining the everlasting bliss of the life hereafter, must follow the teachings of that prophet. This was the position of each and every one of the prophets of God. Before Jesus (pbuh), this was precisely the position of the prophet preceding him and so on. With the advent of Jesus (pbuh), it was now only him, through which the path of eternal success could be attained. This position of Jesus (pbuh) would continue till the time that God decided to send a prophet after him. Thus, rejection of a prophet of God, even after having recognized him as a true representative of God is one of the gravest of sins, which is likely to follow severe punishment in the life hereafter.

You write:

… but because I am human, I acknowledge that I could be wrong. It seems to me that a Just and Merciful God would reward people just for making sincere efforts in His way, but then I might be terribly confused about justice. I ask God at least 5 times a day to show me the truth, wherever it may be. As I see it, there isn’t really much else for me to do, except hope that God will allow me to find the real truth one day (if it happens to be the case that I am in error at the moment).

I commend you for your approach. For us, humans, this is the only right approach to go through the test of the life of this world. May the Almighty keep our hearts and minds open to all the Truth that comes our way.

You ask:

I agree wholeheartedly with your view that a person should succeed with God if he/she sincerely submits to what he/she understands to be God’s truth, but I wonder if this reasoning squares with the following verse:


“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7).

In my opinion, this verse very strongly corresponds with the idea that if one truthfully submits to what he understands to be the Truth and sincerely seeks God’s guidance in this regard, then God would definitely guide him to the path of ultimately success. Keep in mind that these words are immediately succeeded by:

Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7: 9 – 11)

These words strongly support your idea that if you truly seek God’s guidance, the Merciful Lord shall never lead you astray. Our Lord will never give us a stone, if we truly seek His bread, He will never put a snake in our mouth, if we desire the fish of His mercy. If we, with all our evil inclinations, cannot do this to our children, how can our heavenly Father do such a thing to us?

Our Lord, clarify upon us the Truth as it actually is and grant us the privilege to follow it; And clarify upon us Falsehood as it actually is and grant us the privilege to abstain from it. Amen.

With fondest regards and sincere prayers.

 UIUK

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