Re (2): The Rushdie Knighthood Affair - Islam isn't as reasonable as you make it sound

Question:
1. The question I asked is still not answered. Let me ask it again: Do you think the killers of Theo Van Gogh and many others, who criticized Islam and its practices, are criminals as per Islam? Do you think that the fatwa on Rushdie's head was unislamic?

2. I do not know whether you really believe in the soundness of your arguments. If you do, then I would have to concede that we talk from totally different platforms. The fact that I may not agree with your arguments does not make me a fanatic; at least that is what I think. You think I do not listen to you with an open mind. If, for you, the proof of my open mindedness constitutes of agreeing to or getting impressed with some faulty reasoning, I am sorry that I cannot provide you with that proof.

3. You may think that a prediction, proving to be right, constitutes some irrefutable proof. I would request you to read the statements of the leaders of any two warring parties throughout human history. You will find that both the combatants claimed victory in the forthcoming war and one of them proved to be right after the war. America has not yet lost any war and thank God it does not claim that it alone is the God's country.

The trouble with your reasoning is that you do not apply the same set of standards to different people or claims. The arguments you proffer, to prove divinity of Quran or prophethood and greatness of Mohammad, if applied to some other entities will be unacceptable to you. If this does not constitute blind faith and fanaticism, I do not know the meaning of these words.

4. Your statement presupposes that God had already decided the number of prophets he would send and that Muhammad was to be the last messenger. If this is considered true, it would mean that God allowed billions of people to be led astray between the intervening periods of Torah and Gospels on one hand, and Gospels and Quran on the other, by allowing his message to be corrupted. This was gross injustice to those innocent souls.

Dr Zaheer, you do need to understand a few thing very clearly. Claims made in Quran or anywhere or by anyone do not constitute "proof" of anything. Secondly, to test the veracity of any claim, same set of tests should be applied to multiple claims or phenomena. Thirdly, as I have said earlier, no reasoning or logic can be applied to test subjective beliefs. If one agrees that his beliefs are subjective, there cannot be any arguments on the truth or falsehood of his beliefs. However, trouble starts when one says that his beliefs are objective or based on reason and rationality. Then, his beliefs will be tested on the touchstone of reasoning.

5. Believe me, on the front of reasoning and rationality, Islamic people are losing the battle all around.

Response:
1. The killers were criminals and the Fatwa against Rushdie is un-Islamic.

2. I think you are right. I was emotional while I was writing my response when I made that remark. My religion teaches me not to doubt the intentions of anyone, and sadly I violated that principle.

3. I can only politely tell you that you are not following what I am saying. The reason is not that you are not intelligent enough. The fact is that you have so much of negative feelings against Islam, not for unjustifiable reasons, which are causing you to not take the case of Islam seriously.

The prophet of Islam made his prophecy like no other person in the known history did. This was because it was not he but God who was making the prophecy. It was unlike the predictions which warring parties make as a propaganda measure. He claimed from the very first day of his prophetic mission that his enemies would be doomed like were the enemies of the earlier messengers. When he made this claim in the beginning, he was all alone. For thirteen years it was met with ridicule and insult. However, the Author of the Qur’an continued to tell him that what was being promised was bound to happen as it did in the case of the earlier messengers whose mission he was following. The fully preserved Qur’an is a living proof of this miracle that came about in the Arabian Peninsula exactly the way it was predicted.

When you accuse me of blindly pursuing my fanaticism, you are committing the same mistake as I did: You are doubting my intentions. My faith came to my rescue to correct my thinking about you. I hope your rational thinking does the same trick to you. I can assure you that I have investigated all people I know who have made claims similar to my prophet’s to see if they too could belong to the same category. In the process I tried to understand the mission of Joseph Smith (US) and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (India). If you will point out someone else, I will make an attempt again in the same spirit, because this is what the Qur’an tells me to do in regard to contesting claims: “Ask them to bring a book more true than these two books (i.e. Qur’an and Torah) I will be the first to follow it, if you are really truthful (in your claim).”

Anyone who apart from Muhammad went through the process of seeing his own pre-announced victory getting fulfilled with such clarity of the claim of being a messenger and with such definitive support of history is, to me, another messenger from Him. But who else is there who achieved feats like his? Please help me in finding him out.

4. Sir, you need to understand quite a few things: The Qur’an doesn’t claim that messengers come to reform the society. They come to clarify what the truth from God is. If some people start following that truth properly, it is only then that such people get reformed. The purpose of arranging God-sent messages to such people was to ensure that if people wanted to know the truth, there should be a reliable source to do that job. So long as prophets and messengers were present along with their messages, the arrangement was available in the world. After God decided that Muhammad was to be the last prophet, He also decided that the Qur’an should be preserved from getting corrupted so that God’s guidance should remain available to mankind.

The proof of Islam’s veracity is neither subjective nor objective. It is like the moon of the first evening of the lunar calendar: It is visible, but only to those who want to see it. For those who don’t want to see it, it’s not there. Unwillingness to see the moon (and the Qur’an’s truth) can be caused by a number of reasons including a strong emotional prejudice against Islam.

5. Believe me, on that front, Islam is bound to have the final victory.

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