Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Why "revert" not "convert"

People who formally profess to embrace islam, such as myself, commonly refer to ourselves as "reverts" not "converts.

This is because being one who is in the state of self-submission to the higher power (which is the definition of "muslim"), one who embraces islam, means that we are embracing what we call in arabic the "din-al-fitra". This translates to the "natural faith," meaning that we are in the original state as humans that God created us in.

The word "convert" is contrary to what happens when a soul consciously acknowedges that it is muslim; we aren't changing ourselves into another form (converting) - converting impies that when embracing a religion one is changing into another form, something that doesn't come naturally to the human being... when we formally embrace islam, we are going back to the way we were when we were born on this earth, completely sinless and in perfect relationship with the Creator.

Yes, that's right. There is no concept of original sin in Islam. This is consistent with our brothers and sisters in Judaism, but not with our brothers and sisters in Christianity.

Now I know this isn't the posted topic of this blog entry, but ....

How can Christianity make sense on this premise?

  • Jesus (Yeshua/'Isaa) was a Jew
  • He practiced Judaism
  • Judaism doesn't and never has held the idea of original sin in it's theology
YET "Christianity" as we know it today=
  • the idea that all of humanity cannot attain salvation without accepting Jesus Christ as it's lord and saviour. He wasn't God, he was the Son of God, who turned his son into a man and willfully allowed people to murdur him by crucifixion, but after three days of being dead, God, (the Father), raised his Son from the dead, to atone for the sins of all of mankind, which all of humanity is born with as babies by the stain of the sins of Adam.

May I humbly point out that Jews also strictly did not believe in Polytheism - they believed at the time of Jesus just as they do now in the oneness of God, just as islam teaches.

How can this possibly be the logical conclusion to Judaism?????

It just doesn't fit.

This is one of many of the early signs that led me to seek God, to think outside the box I was put into, and ultimatley led me to the din-al-fitra.

3 comments:

Beach Bum said...

Let me first say straight up that I am in no way an expert on my faith. I fully state that I'm just a dumb country boy just trying to live by the Golden Rule and raise my kids in peace like the 99% of the rest of humanity. And I will gladly accept a better explanation by someone more knowledgeable on the details. But what I am able to piece together is that the trinity of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three pieces of the one whole. And that the Resurrection of Jesus was to show that even though we are born in sin, we can try and leave our animal behavior behind us and seek a better way of life closer to God. OK, thats as deep as I get, anymore is over my head.

Lastly, thanks you Rockin' for teaching this country boy some of the details I had no idea existed about Islam. Finding out new things about people and their way of life is a big reason why I blog.

Rockin' Hejabi said...

Thanks, Beach Bum!

Yes, although I'm not Christian anymore, I still believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Nowhere in the Quran does it say this didn't happen. The Quran just states that Jesus was a man and that everything that he did and that happened to him was from God... and that "they killed him not". I take this to mean that God raised him from the dead on the third day....but not that he raised himself*. Mainstream Islam has interpreted this to mean Jesus wasn't crucified at all, but I don't know why...it seems they interpret this to be divisive. We have no scriptural evidence at all to support that idea so why ???? Muslims are supposed to be knowledgeable in the JEwish scriptures, the bible, and anything that contradicts the Quran should basically just be ignored...but I find that most of the other scriptures don't conflict with what I read in the Quran! Except almost all of what Paul says.....

All muslims believe that Jesus ('Isaa in arabic) was the fulfillment of Jewish scriptures and was the messiah. We also believe God raised him, in his body, alive, to heaven, and that in the Last Days/Judgement day JEsus will be the one who comes back to the earth and will judge everyone.
We also believe Mary, his mother, was a virgin (immaculate conception), and is one of 4, if not the, most chaste and virtuous woman who ever lived.

Yes, I think the resurrection of Jesus is very meaningful. We must "die to our carnal selves" and submit to the will of God, to be reborn in this life as spiritually uplifted beings, to control our "animal souls".

You're so welcome beach bum and I really appreciate your dialogue!

Unknown said...

I was looking for the reference Muslims use in the Quran about reverting rather than converting, then I saw your speculations regarding Jesus' death. Some people say Jesus didn't die on the cross but wasn't sent to heaven either. Since you were a Christian, the following may interest you. If you look carefully at the account in the Bible you will see that Jesus gushed blood and water while on the cross after he "gave up the ghost". Blood only gushes when you're alive. Also, he prayed that the "bitter cup" be taken away from him the night before, the bitter cup of being put on the cross etc. Finally, maybe most importantly, Jesus' mission was to teach the "lost sheep of the house of Israel", the 12 tribes, only 2 of which were in Judea, where he was when we was put on the cross. The other tribes were spread towards the east all the way to Kashmir where many people still go to see his burial site. In short, he didnt die but just fainted. What do you think? You seem to be very knowledgeable.