I've spoken to and been involved in the conversion (or as Muslims would call it reversion) of a number of Christians to Islam. There are two key themes that have come up repeatedly. A simple, clear theology Islam's theology is much simpler than Christianity's: there is One God, he created the universe, and it is in our best interests to follow his instructions as to the best way to live and behave. Furthermore, He told us how to behave through divine revelation. There's more detail, but if you believe the above, essentially you're Muslim. Compare this with the complexities of Christian theology: ideas like the Trinity (are they three gods, the same god, forms of the same god) can be hard for people to understand. Or this idea that Jesus died for our sins; but exactly which part of Jesus died on the cross, the man, or the God? Clearly it wasn't the God, so it must have been the man. But is a man being sacrificed sufficient to atone for all of man's sins? Authenticity/Preservation of the Sources One of the key challenges about religion is knowing that the understanding you have is true. One way to determine the truth of a religion is to see whether the sources of the faith have been authentically preserved, and whether their claim of a divine link can be established or not. The Qur'an -- in terms of its preservation -- can make a significantly stronger claim to being well preserved compared to the Bible. There are some books of the Bible for whom we don't even know the author, and there are disagreements about the authenticity of certain parts of the Bible. This allows one to consider an interesting proposition: is the Qur'an the word of God? It's been well preserved, according to historians. And the Qur'an makes certain claims and guides in a way. Some people conclude that the Qur'an is the word of God. Those people end up becoming Muslims. Yusuf Estes tells his story of how he came to Islam.

I've spoken to and been involved in the conversion (or as Muslims would call it reversion) of a number of Christians to Islam. There are two key themes that have come up repeatedly. A simple, clear theology Islam's theology is much simpler than Christianity's: there is One God, he created the universe, and it is in our best interests to follow his instructions as to the best way to live and behave. Furthermore, He told us how to behave through divine revelation. There's more detail, but if you believe the above, essentially you're Muslim. Compare this with the complexities of Christian theology: ideas like the Trinity (are they three gods, the same god, forms of the same god) can be hard for people to understand. Or this idea that Jesus died for our sins; but exactly which part of Jesus died on the cross, the man, or the God? Clearly it wasn't the God, so it must have been the man. But is a man being sacrificed sufficient to atone for all of man's sins? Authenticity/Preservation of the Sources One of the key challenges about religion is knowing that the understanding you have is true. One way to determine the truth of a religion is to see whether the sources of the faith have been authentically preserved, and whether their claim of a divine link can be established or not. The Qur'an -- in terms of its preservation -- can make a significantly stronger claim to being well preserved compared to the Bible. There are some books of the Bible for whom we don't even know the author, and there are disagreements about the authenticity of certain parts of the Bible. This allows one to consider an interesting proposition: is the Qur'an the word of God? It's been well preserved, according to historians. And the Qur'an makes certain claims and guides in a way. Some people conclude that the Qur'an is the word of God. Those people end up becoming Muslims. Yusuf Estes tells his story of how he came to Islam.
by Nasr El-Deen Abou-Taleb

April 28, 2015 at 11:05PM
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