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THANKS
TO A NATION AND ITS CITIZENS |
- First
I thank God, The Lone Creator of all that exists,
and secondly, thanks to the nation called the US and
her citizens for their hospitality in my visit to
their nation on the invitation of United States Department
of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs,
International Visitor Program, Religious School in
the US, A Single Country Project for India, from March
29 to April 19, 2003 arranged by Meridian International
Center. I visited various esteemed institutions of
knowledge and got the opportunity to study the system
of education in the US. This also provided me the
opportunity to meet scholarly persons and exchanged
the views.
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The Constitution of the US has a remarkable thing
with its other appreciable features. And that is,
in my view, keeping fair distance between Religion
and State. I feel it is the backbone of all sorts
of developments the US has achieved so far. Due to
recent incidents, this historical achievement should
not be altered. It is the need of the hour for all
the nations, and the US should be a model for them
to follow. I would like express my thoughts here in
the backdrop of this visit.
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Throughout the world, the Muslims or the Non-Muslims
misunderstand that Islam is a religion of 7th century
AD. This is explicitly denied in the Last Testament,
The Qur’an. It says in chapter
42 verse 13:-
“In
matters of faith, HE has ordained for you (O Muslims)
that which HE had enjoined upon Noah and into which
WE gave you (O Muhammad) insight through revelation,
as well as that which WE had enjoined upon Abraham,
and Moses, and Jesus: steadfastly uphold the True
Faith, and do not break up your unity therein and....”
(From
Holy Qur'an 42/13)
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Please
further refer 3/19
“Behold, the only true religion in the sight
of ALLAH is man’s self-surrender unto HIM; (Islam);
and those who were vouchsafed revelation aforetime
took, out of mutual jealousy, to divergent views on
this point only after knowledge thereof had come unto
them. But as for him who denies the truth of ALLAH’s
messages - behold, ALLAH is swift in reckoning!”
(From
Holy Qur'an 3/19)
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Another
reference is from 2/213:
“All
mankind were once one single community; then they
began to differ - whereupon ALLAH raised up the prophets
as heralds of glad tidings and as warners, and through
them bestowed revelation from on high, setting forth
the truth, so that it might decide between people
with regard to all on which they had come to hold
divergent views. Yet none other than the self-same
people who had been granted such revelations began,
out of mutual jealousy, to disagree about its meaning
after all evidence of the truth had come unto them.
But ALLAH guided the believers by HIS leave unto the
truth about which they had disagreed: for ALLAH guides
onto a straight way him that wills to be guided.”
The
references provided here should be checked in original
Arabic text. If it is not possible to understand it
in its original, at least 3 translations should be
referred to.
(From
Holy Qur'an 2/213)
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It is commonly assumed by the Muslims as well as
the non-Muslims that Muhammad was a Prophet who
established a new religion. This is totally in contrast
to what The Last Testament, the Qur’an, asserts
in 46/9.
"You say O Muhammad,
I am not the first of God's Messengers and......"
Before Muhammad, every prophet and the scriptures
revealed to them, at any time of the human history,
contained the same messages which have been finalized
in The Last Testament revealed to Prophet Muhammad.
Going by the commonly assumed philosophy, can any
one say that the earlier prophets were non-Muslims?
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