It’s that time of year, once again, when we hear people saying, “Peace on earth and good will between men.” This constant refrain in songs and conversations is uttered by many from all quarters at this time of year. However, what's interesting is that many people don't know that this quotation is actually a passage from the Bible. And even many Christians, sad to say, don't know what it really means.
Muslims celebrates the festival of Eid al-Adha with great feeling. This festival is observed in memory of the sacrifice that Abraham offered God. Muslims believe that God put Abraham to the test by asking him to sacrifice his son. At the right moment God provided a ram to sacrifice. Was God pointing forward to a Momentous Sacrifice in the future?
Does God approve of our Fasting? Do Christians Fast? What is the Biblical perspective of Fasting? Every year Muslims in the world fast in a particular way in the month of Ramadan.According to The Fiqh Council of North America, Ramadan starts this year 2020, April 24.
The traditions of Islam teach that during this month God gives Muslims a chance to double their rewards so to have much wider chance to get into the paradise. Muslims ask for His pardon for their past sins and conduct other meritorious behavior. Every act of kindness, prayer, giving, fasting and anything else that a Muslim can possibly do to please God, is expected. Since there is no assurance of salvation by grace for the 1.6 billion Muslims on earth, they hope to do more works as prescribed in the Islamic law so to have more chances on the Day of Judgement.
In Islamic theology, the terms kitman, taqqiyya / tuqya, etc. stand for telling a lie, concealing the true intention or misleading for a greater purpose. In general, Muslims have used it since the 7th century to confuse and split their enemies. A favored tactic is “deceptive triangulation” to persuade the enemy that Jihad is not aimed at them but rather at another enemy. It also refers to how a Muslim may lie, mislead or avoid truthfulness to achieve a purpose if the goal is for the benefit of the Muslim community.
On Feb. 4, 2019, an interreligious meeting took place in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The Pope signed a covenant with Sheikh Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, head of Egypt’s al-Azhar University, declaring that ‘diversity of religions’ is ‘willed by God.’ The Muslim Sheikh is considered by some as the head of the Sunni Muslims which is a majority or 85% of Muslims. To betray and take advantage of others, indeed many of the Muslims feel at home. Why and how? Well, the Qur’an speaks with both sides of its mouth. Yes, on one hand when Muhammad was not powerful enough, he would only use the peaceful Qur’anic passages claiming to have had been revealed to him by God, that whoever believed in God and the Day of Judgment were OK (Sura 2:62). He went to the extent to declare that God had given every group of people a law to live by and if he had willed, he would have made all one Ummah (Sura 5:48). Ummah means to make people all one community.
