Thank you. I did not realise that Sharia law is seen as eternal. He does not seem to think so, because he allows for reformers in Islam, he said that that was foreseen in Islam, that every 100 years or so a reformer would come about.
So the changes in obligatory prayer etc he sees as a reform of Islam, of making Islam more appealing to westerners. (yes I told him that many Muslims became Bahais, so much so that they kept on banning Bahá'u'llah until He ended up in Akka, but he is quite fixed in his views). -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Iskandar Hai, M.D. Sent: 06 May 2006 21:53 To: Baha'i Studies Subject: Re: question about Islam Dear Janine, In a sense he is right that the Baha'i Faith is a re-iteration of Islam but then in that sense the Baha'i Faith is a re-iteration of Judaism, Christianity, etc., as we believe that the foundation of all religions is one. The essential and fundamental tenets of all faiths are the same. They all teach one creator God, and they all teach love and fellowship, etc., and they all prohibit murder and theft, etc., etc. In that sense Islam is a re-iteration of the religion of Abraham, of Moses, of Jesus, etc., etc. But Muslims believe that Islamic shari`ah law is eternal, never to be abrogated; things like the obligatory prayer (the salAt), the point of adoration (Qiblih), fasting, and laws pertaining to personal status such as inheritance, matrimonial/divorce laws, penalties and fines for theft, murder, adultery, etc., etc., are considered by Muslims to be eternal and not subject to abrogation. So, I'm surprised that your Muslim Shaykh friend would not notice that Baha'is have new obligatory prayers, new Qiblih, new Hajj pilgrimage place/practice different from Islam, cannot practice bigamy, have a clear cut prohibition against slavery, have a Divinely-ordained administartive order based on explicit Texts of the Book of Baha'u'llah's Covenant and on the Will & Testament of `Abdu'l-Baha, etc., etc., and have a new 19-day month of fasting in March (Ramadan is 29-30 days and is a lunar month, cycles through the seasons) as being abrogations of Islamic shari`ah religious laws if he has actually read the Aqdas and other Baha'i Holy Writings, Warm and loving regards, Iskandar On Fri, 5 May 2006, Tim Nolan wrote: > Hello Janine, > > >He feels that the Bahai faith is just a reiteration of Islam, nothing > new. < > > The Baha'i Faith has an explicit, written Covenant, which preserves the unity > of the Baha'is. Islam doesn't have this, which is why there are rival Islamic factions. > The Baha'i Covenant also provides a source of continuing, unerring divine guidance, > after the Founder is no longer physically present. Sunni Muslims do not have this, and Shi'a Muslims haven't had this for about 13 centuries. > > Baha'u'llah forbids religious warfare, Muhammad did not forbid this. > > Those are just two examples off the top of my head. He will find others If he studies the revelation of Baha'u'llah more closely. > > Tim > > The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
