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Name
Jak
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Profession
Question
Muhammad is a great man and A distinguished politician, that is OK. But why do you insist that he is a Prophet? What does it matter?
Answer
It is not our decision; it is the decision of the Creator Who chose him to be the final Prophet and Messenger of God to Humanity at large until the Day of Judgment. God has sent Prophet Muhammad to all humanity as a mercy, and he has been sent as a mercy to every creature in the world as well, including people, animals, plants, environments, and even as a mercy to jinn.
Name
David
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Profession
Question
You Muslims say that Islam is a "whole way of life", how come? How a religion could interfere in medical, political or economic issues?
Answer
Islam is not a religion only; Islam is a the way of life that God has prescribed: how we should live in every aspect of life, including spirituality, socially, culturally, economically, politically and so on. Islam is not a religion as defined by Western societies who split themselves as one religion on one way and other aspects of life on another way. This means that they have split themselves into two personalities, thereby becoming schizophrenic.
A Muslim is to live a total way of life, the way prescribed by God so we can live in peace and harmony. Islam means peace, but that peace has to come from God and we are to spread the message of peace in the whole world.
Name
Truth Seeker
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Profession
Question
Jesus sacrificed himself to save mankind and deliver us from the sin, why did not Muhammad do so?
Answer
You did not study history enough and you did not know unfortunately what happened to Jesus, peace be upon him. Jesus, peace be upon him, did not sacrifice his life for our sins. And if it were to be true, Jesus would have been sent by God as the first child of Adam to save our sins. We human beings are born without sin, pure. Again, Jesus, peace be upon him, was not crucified. Go back and find who the one crucified was. If you don’t know, we will tell you. Jesus in as much as God brought him in a miraculous way, lifted him up to Heaven and one of his followers, who was a hypocrite whose name was Juda, became his look like and then people crucified him thinking he was Jesus.
If Jesus, peace be upon him, sacrificed himself to save others, what happened to those billions of people who came before him, never met him, or believed in him: do you think they will all go to Hell?
No one should sacrifice himself to save others. The Savor is God, and He told us that no one should sacrifice himself.
Name
Samuel
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Profession
Question
How Muslims view Prophets other than Muhammad? Do they recognize other prophets in the first place?
Answer
Of course, we believe that God had sent thousands prophets and messengers to humanity to guide them to worship God and obey Him. But God, out of mercy and sympathy on us, mentioned only 25 of them in the Qur’an. Out of the 25 prophets mentioned in the Qur’an, Allah selected five to be the most important and most influential: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, peace be upon all of them.
So we all love prophets, respect them and hold all of them in high esteem. We read in the Qur’an, “The Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them) believeth in Allah, His angels, His Books, and His Messengers. "We make no distinction (they say) between one and another of His Messengers." And they say: "We hear, and we obey, (we seek) Thy forgiveness, our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys." (Chapter 2, verse 285).
All prophets, except Muhammad, were sent to their local people in a particular era of history but Prophet Muhammad is the culmination, summation, and seal of all prophets sent by God. He has been to you and to us, in America, Canada, and the whole world, till the Day of Judgment.
Name
Denis
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Profession
Question
A man of war, right?
Answer
Muhammad was not a man of war. Where did he wage a war against any nation? He made peace treaties with the Jews and Christians, and he demanded from his followers to protect the Christians and the Jews wherever they are.
Did Prophet Muhammad and his followers wage the crusades? The Crusades and the inquisition and colonialism and imperialism? Definitely no.
Name
Ahmad Gharib
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Profession
Question
Can you give examples how Prophet Muhammad reacted to insults.
Answer
He never reacted negatively. He always smiled in the face of those who insulted him. The Qur’an says: “and when they ignorant speak foul them, they say, “peace” . (Al-Furqan 25: 63)
Name
Susie Ombraker
- Alaska
Profession
Retired Oenologist
Question
As a former Muslimah, it has been my belief that Muhammad would not approve of what has been going on lately, what with all the Muslims flying airplanes into office buildings, blowing themselves up, and kidnapping and murdering Russian schoold children in cold blood. Do you agree and, if not, why not?
Answer
Islam does not allow anyone to be killed or hijacked but the question that should be asked: what are the causes that made people do that? When we understand the causes, then there is no need for hijacking or killing. Russia was killing Muslims of the Soviet Union for the last 500 years and Russia was sending Muslims to Siberia to live with the snow 24 hours in tent throughout the year, yet nobody talked about it.
Name
Fahr
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Profession
Question
How could Muhammad be nice to Jews and Christians and he said, "do not greet them first?"
Answer
The Prophet told this to the Muslims when fighting against the pagans of Banu Quraitha, who were breached the covenant of peace with Muslims and rebelled against the Prophet, peace be upon him. So the common sense that you don’t greet the person that is fighting you?
But the general rule in Islam is to be nice, gentle and peaceful with all peace. Prophet Muhammad said: “Greet whoever you know and you don’t know with peace.” This of course could include everybody.
Name
Yahya Eden
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Profession
Question
Can you name few books on Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, for English readers?
Answer
Dr. Ahmad Sakr recently wrote a book about Prophet Muhamamd and he has published pamphlets about Prophet Muhammad and what non-Muslims said about him, and he will be happy to send these as gifts to you. Go to his website: www.ahmadsakr.com
Name
Christina
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Profession
Question
I can not understand all this uproar by Muslims regarding the Danish cartoons. Even if they highly respect their prophet, this does not justify all this unrest. I doubt that they worship him.
Answer
We love God and we obey Him. We love all the Prophets, including Prophet Muhammad. We respect Prophet Muhammad and we refuse anybody to just make a joke or an insult against to him after he delivered the message of Allah to all human beings. We do not insult any prophet, and we do not insult anyone. We respect you as much as we respect ourselves. The problem is not what the masses of Muslims have done, it was a reaction to an action and the problem is from those who made the cartoons. Since nobody blamed them, or took them to court, we are unfortunately blaming the masses.
Muslims will not tolerate any abusive projection to Jesus or the Virgin Mary because we respect both of them and honor them with dignity. The problem should have been resolved between the leaders of Muslim countries with their Denmark counterparts.
Name
Hasan
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Profession
Question
In your view, what is the best way to present Islam and the Prophet Muhammad?
Answer
The best way is to be very friendly, polite, kind, and generous to my neighbor, friends, and all human beings. We should understand each other’s background and we should know which culture you are coming from and then we should compliment each other. We should invite others to our places of worship and to our houses and share our commonalities and enjoy the food of other countries in order to live in peace and harmony. Ignorance is the source of problems all over the world and we must help those people to get to know us and our Prophet.
If you wish any of the pamphlets written by Dr. Sakr on these issues, he will be pleased to send it free of charge in sha’Allah. Examples of these pamphlets are:
1. Introducing Islam
2. Living together
3. Non-Muslims through Muslim history
4. What they say about prophet Muhammad
5. What Islam says about Jihad, Holy War, terrorism, etc.
Name
Susan
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Profession
Question
Can a Prophet be a statesman?
Answer
It depends on what God wants to make that Prophet. A good number of Prophets were statesmen such as Solomon, David, Isaac, Abraham, Noah and Muhammad, peace be upon all of them. The only prophet among the great five who was not statesman was Jesus. That is was the wisdom and decision of God to make Jesus a spiritual leader only and not a statesman. And it was also God’s plan that Jesus did not get married or to have children. So he was a prophet of spirituality to the children of Israel only in Palestine.
Name
Abdheraman Tarik
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Profession
Schizophrenic Diagnostician
Question
Professors do themselves a disservice by labeling Western democracies as "schizophrenic" when Muslim theocracies are cesspools of ignorance and filth. The West suffered through wars and pestilence generated by religious fanatics who believed that they, and only they, were blessed by the Lord God, Jehovah, only to learn afterwards that even their enemies felt likewise. Religion and government don't mix. Islamic countries will know only desolation until such time as they permit their people the freedom to enjoy a Renaissance.
Answer
Islam is a system and a total way of life including spirituality, family values, economy, banking system, politics – a total way of life. It is not a religion in the way western societies understand the meaning of religion. It is a comprehensive message that includes all the aspects of life. If you study the Islamic jurisprudence, you will be able to read how this life is regulated.
Islam has given freedom of speech and freedom of religion. People have the right to address the leaders of the Muslim world, and if their leaders have done wrong, they have the right to correct through legal means. We are not to convert, baptize, or proselytize.
Name
Eggfoo Yong
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Profession
Electrical Outlets
Question
I am interested in learning more about your religion and want to know where I should go. I live in Salt Lake City and unfortunately there are not many mosques.
Answer
There are more than one masjid in Salt Lake city. If you search online you will be successful in sha’Allah. If you can’t, just phone us at 1 909 595-7800 or 909 594-1310 and we will help you. We have lots of pamphlets and books that we can give you in sha’Allah.
Name
Rasha
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Profession
Question
Really, I am stricken by this title, where it is so hard to speak about our prophet and describe him in few lines. What I wish is to give our brothers and sisters glances from his precious life , his relations with others, how he addressed His Lord , and how Allah accepted his invocation and gave him the relief and strong iman. I also invite Muslims to strive themselves to tread his path and follow his steps.
Answer
I agree with your comment. Go and encourage other of doing this.
Editor's Note:
To learn more about Prophet Muhammad, kindly visit:
Could you give a briefing on Muhammad and his life?
Answer
I would refer you to my book, “About Prophet Muhammad”. It is 300 pages and it will be a gift for all those who ask for it in sha’ Allah. Visit my website: www.ahmadsakr.com
Editor's Note:
To learn more about Prophet Muhammad, kindly visit:
Finally, we would like to thank Dr. Ahmad H. Sakr for taking the time to answer the questions of IslamOnline.net viewers today, and we also thank all those who participated in this dialogue. We apologize for not being able to accommodate all the questions within the time allocated to this session. If you feel your question is very important, feel free to contact us at EngLivedialogue@islamonline.net and we will try our best to answer your question. We request our readers to join us in upcoming sessions.
