Islam is only the true religion
The first thing that one should know and clearly understand about Islam is what the word "Islam" itself means. The religion of Islam is not named after a person as in the case of Christianity which was named after Jesus Christ, Buddhism after Gautama Buddha, Confucianism after Confucius, and Marxism after Karl Marx. Nor was it named after a tribe like Judaism after the tribe of Judah and Hinduism after the Hindus. Islam is the true religion of "Allah" and as such, its name represents the central principle of Allah's "God's" religion; the total submission to the will of Allah "God". The Arabic word "Islam" means the submission or surrender of ones will to the only true god worthy of worship "Allah" and anyone who does so is termed a "Muslim", The word also implies "peace" which is the natural consequence of total submission to the will of Allah. Hence, it was not a new religion brought by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) I in Arabia in the seventh century, but only the true religion of Allah re-expressed in its final form.
Islam is the religion which was given to Adam, the first man and the first prophet of Allah, and it was the religion of all the prophets sent by Allah to mankind. The name of God's religion ls lam was not decided upon by later generations of man. It was chosen by Allah Himself and clearly mentioned in His final revelation to man. In the final book of divine revelation, the Qur'aan, Allah states the following:
"This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion". (Soorah Al-Maa'idah 5:3)
"If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah (God) never will It be accepted of Him" (Soorah Aal'imraan 3:85)
"Abraham was not a Jew nor Christian; but an upright Muslim." (Soorah Aal'imraan 3:67)
Nowhere in the Bible will you find Allah saying to Prophet Moses' people or their descendants that their religion is Judaism, nor to the followers of Christ that their religion is Christianity. In fact, Christ was not even his name, nor was it Jesus! The name "Christ" comes from the Greek word Christos which means the annointed. That is, Christ is a Greek translation of the Hebrew title "Messiah". The name "Jesus" on the other hand, is a latinized version of the Hebrew name Esau.
For simplicity's sake, I will however continue to refer to Prophet Esau (PBUH) as Jesus. As for his religion, it was what he called his followers to. Like the prophets before him, he called the people to surrender their will to the will of Allah; (which is Islam) and he warned them to stay away from the false gods of human imagination.
According to the New Testament, he taught his followers to pray as follows: "Yours will be done on earth as it is in Heaven".
THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM
Since the total submission of one's will to Allah represents the essence of worship, the basic message of Allah's divine religion, Islam is the worship of Allah alone and the avoidance of worship directed to any person, place or thing other than Allah.Since everything other than Allah, the Creator of all things, is Allah's creation; it may be said that Islam, in essence calls man away from the worship of creation and invites him to worship only its Creator. He is the only one deserving man's worship as it is only by His will that prayers are answered. If man prays to a tree and his prayers are answered, it was not the tree which answered his prayers but Allah who allowed the circumstances prayed for to take place. One might say, "That is obvious," however, to tree-worshippers it might not be. Similarly, prayers to Jesus, Buddha, or Krishna, to Saint Christopher, or Saint Jude or even to Muhammad, are not answered by them but are answered by Allah. Jesus did nottell his followers to worship him but to worship Allah. As the Qur'aan states:
"And behold Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary Did you say to men, Worship me and my mother as gods besides Allah He will say-"Glory to you I could never say what I had no right (to say')" (Soorah Al-Maa'idah- 5:116)
Nor did he worship himself when he worshipped but rather he worshipped Allah. This basic principle is enshrined in the opening chapter of the Qur'aan, known asSoorah Al-Faatihah, verse 4:
"You alone do we worship and from you alone do we seek help".
Elsewhere, in the final book of revelation, the Qur'aan, Allah also said:
"And your Lord says:"Call on Me and I will answer your(prayer)."(Soorsh Mu'min 40:60)
it is worth noting that the basic message of Islam is that Allah and His creation are distinctly different entities. Neither is Allah His creation or a part of it, nor is His creation Him or a part of Him.
This might seem obvious, but, man's worship of creation instead of the Creator is to a large degree based on ignorance of this concept. It is the belief that the essence of Allah is everywhere in His creation or that His divine being is or was present in some aspects of His creation, which has provided justification for the worship of creation though such worship maybecalled the worship of Allah through his creation. How ever, the message of Islam as brought by the prophets of Allah is to worship only Allah and to avoid the worship of his creation either directly or indirectly. In the Our'aan Allah clearlystates:
"For We assuredly sent amongst every people a prophet,(with the command) worship meand avoid false gods " (Soorsh Al-Nahl 16:36)
When the idol worshipper is questioned as to why he or she bows down to idols created by men, the invariable reply is that they are not actually worshipping the stone image, but Allah who is present within it. They claim that the stone idol is only a focal point for Allah's essence and is not in itself Allah! One who has accepted the concept of the presence of God's being within His creation in any way will be obliged to accept this argument of idolatry. Whereas, one who understands the basic message of Islam and its implications would never concede to idolatry no matter how it is rationalized. Those who have claimed divinity for themselves down through the ages have often based their claims on the mistaken belief that Allah is present in man. They merely had to assert that although Allah according to their false beliefs, is in all of us, He is more present in them than in the rest of us. Hence, they claim, we should submit our will to them and worship them as they are either God in person or God concentrated within the person.
Similarly, those who have asserted the godhood of others after their passing have found fertile ground among those who accept the false belief of God's presence in man. One who has grasped the basic message of Islam and its implications could never agree to worship another human being under any circumstances. God's religion in essence is a clear call to the worship of the Creator and the rejection of creation-worship in any form. This is the meaning of the motto of Islam:
"Laa Elaaha lllallaah" (There is no god but Allah)
Its repetition automatically brings one within the fold of Islam and sincere belief in it guarantees one Paradise.
Thus, the final Prophet of Islam is reported to have said, "Any one who says: There is no god but Allah and dies holding that (belief) will enter paradise".(Reported by Abu Dharr and collected by Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim).
It consists in the submission to Allah as one God, yielding to Him by obeying His commandments, and the denial of polytheism and polytheists.
Progressive thinking of the Islamic faith. It's quite new, about 200 years old I think (not sure.) Very tolerant of other religions for one of their focuses is that God sends messengers. Doesn't mean they accept the others, but tolerant.
What I've been told about Baha'i is that it teaches that ALL religions are true. If this is the case, then Baha'i on its own is useless, because why do we need one more religion if any of them will do? It also is logically false, because most religions, such as Chritianity and Islam, each claim to be the only truth. Therefore, they are mutually exclusive.
But maybe I've been misinformed about Baha'i. Why is the name of that religion a contraction? Is there a more formal name that's two words long?
All religions in someway does speak good. Does that make them real. Prophet Muhammad is the seal of prophets. And there cannot be any other true religion, except Islam. And do you know Judaism, Christianity,etc are all man made religions.? Judaism was named so not by Judah, but by the followers , years after him, And Christianity was named so, not by Jesus, not even by his immediate followers, but by those opportunists who came decades after him.
Tell your friend and yourself, all things that glitter are not gold, only the gold is gold.
All that looks white is no milk, only the milk itself.
I have studied more religions than most people know exist. Allow me to gently correct you. The Baha'i Faith claims to be the most recent revealed religion but as long as there are people God will continue to send Messengers. This process does not go by a strict time schedule, and happens whenever mankind has forgotten the spirit behind His teachings. In the past this has occurred approximately every one thousand years, and Baha'u'llah said at least one thousand years will pass before the next one appears. But my quarter of a century study has convinced me that while just about any religion can help you, since the Baha'i Faith is the most recent it is the purest teaching from God and can help you the most, by far. I can tear to shreds any religion you can name, but that is only the man-made parts of it. I can also tear to shreds Atheism and generally see things much more deeply than others and do it very quickly, yet nearly a decade and a half of sceptically and critical study of the Baha'i Faith left me with nothing but praise for it. I think the fact there are no contradictions, no inconsistencies or irrationalities at all is a miracle in itself. But not only is more profound than anything I ever before found, it is far more profound than anything I once dreamed possible, yet at the same time it is starkly beautiful in its simplicity. There is only one God, all religions came from one God, we are all one multicolored and Miltie-hued race of people and it is finally time for world peace. What could be more simple yet more beautiful?
I will tell you this, if the Baha'i Faith is what it claims to be then we are getting close to achieving world peace, but if it is not, we will never have peace. I think that alone is good reason to take a serious look at it. You probably already know your friend has not pushed her beliefs on you. That is a Baha'i principle. We strongly believe that everyone is responsible for studying for themselves and deciding what the truth is. I have a large number of reason for my claims, far too many to list here, but if you do not mind doing some reading, one of my resolved questions goes into some of them. I will give you a link at the end. I also have opened up a separate email account specifically for people who have questions about the Baha'i Faith and if someone sends me an email here I share that address with them. I am hoping to get some other Baha'is involved and maybe turn it into something bigger if the interest is there, but I am getting enough email it is getting hard to answer it all myself.
There are three who have answered so far before me. I am going to read the longer answer and possibly respond in an edit, but I have never found anyone that has studied it for themselves that found fault with it. I do not mean just reading a little, I mean actually studying it. Just one example, the Christian run cult watch.org has many groups listed as cults, such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses yet admitted the Baha'i Faith is the only religion that has never ever met the first criteria of a cult. How so is it a cult then? I guess that is enough for now. But I think you will find it very interesting.
Some people claim all faith is blind, but my faith is a carefully considered, carefully reasoned and very reasonable, rational and defensible faith. Were atheist Stephen Roberts (1901-1971) standing in front of me this moment, I would say back to him, ?I contend that we are both men of faith. I just have faith in one more thing than you do, and for very good reason. When you fully understand why I disdain all the devise rs of superstitions and dismiss the gods of vain imaginings, you will understand why I believe in my God, and you will believe also." -- B. Knott Wildered (Not my real name, but the quote is mine.)
I think i will give you two links, one to my question, one to one of my answers.
The Bahai Faith doesn't claim to be the last Abrahamic religion - just the religion for this era. The idea is that social needs and human capacities are changing, so religion has to evolve as well. God sends messengers to different peoples at different times, according to their needs, and the latest is Baha'u'llah, who has a message to do with globalization, world unity, peace & arbitration. Pretty cool for a dude out of 19-Th century Iran, which wasn't exactly the hub of progress and enlightenment. But then, you don't send the doctor to the healthy person, but to the sick one.
what do you think bout Baha'i? it claims to be the final Abrahamic religion?
