From the time that I became critical of Christianity, and even as a practicing Christian, I had a lot questions, questions that I sought answers about from the Bible, from books, from pastors and family–many which nobody knew the answers to. It boils down to faith, I was told.
No matter what one believes, there is always at least a measure of faith involved. But I am reminded of a quote by Galileo which, to paraphrase, says I cant believe God created us with an intellect and common sense, yet expected us to forgo it.
For example, we are taught in Christianity that God created Prophet Adam as the first man, and from his rib created Lady Eve. In Islam, we also believe this. But whereas in the creation story of Genesis, nothing is mentioned of exactly how the Earth was populated with humanity. We have no explanation for the multiplication of the human species from two people into 8 Billion. Nor are we given an explanation as to the variety in races and characteristics of humanity.
In the Bible, we are told that Adam and Eve had Cain amd Able. Thats all. Then, Cain kills able, flees to a foreign land, and finds a wife mysteriously there, gets married, and lives happily ever after. But no explanation as to how one son of Adam could have populated the Earth, or how there was a marriageable woman waiting for Cain somewhere else, when the premise was that humanity began from the first two humans.
In Islam, we are taught a logical explanation, one with no gaps or contradictions. We are taught that Prophet Adam and Lady Eve birthed a series of twins, one boy and one girl, over the course of hundreds of years. At that time, the Divinely Inspired Law brought down through the Messenger, Prophet Adam, Peace be upon Him, was that the sons of Adam could Marry the daughters, but NEVER their twin sisters. In other words, it was permissible in the very beginning for young men to marry the sisters that were of a different pregnancy. This eventually changed with the last child of Prophet Adam and Lady Eve, which was Seth, the second Prophet and Messenger who came wifh the decree that it was forevermore forbidden for siblings to marry. At that time, we are told, there were 40,000 offspring of Adam.
Also, Christianity offers no explanation, for the phenotypic diversity of humanity, which is to say the many races. Nor does it offer insight into the vast diversity in personality types and the character of different people. But Islam does.
We are told that the first human, Adam, was created from a mixture of all the various types of soils of this Earth–black, white, brown, red, yellow; the smooth, the course, the jagged, the good, the bad–which was then mixed with the original water (the first creation of Allah), which was molded into clay, which then received a soul, and became man. From these various colors and textures of soils, the differing complexions, hair texture, and differing personalities of the various humans developed. And this makes sense for the logical mind.
In Christianity, we are taught that all humans are inherently evil, that there is no good even in a newborn baby. Yet they speak of an “age of innocence”. If there were no good in any of us, then how could mankind ever be capable of any good? What would prompt a child to offer help and consolation to a laboring father and weeping mother? What else would prompt a child to share, or to play? The very concept of humanity, as an ethical concept, would not exist, if we were all just inherently bad. They say that the only explanation for good is The Gospel, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit. But what about the people who lived 3500 years prior to Prophet Jesus, Peace be upon him? If the only saving grace of mankind was the Holy Spirit, then what about the millions upon millions of people who lived prior to the moment we are told the Holy Spirit arrived. And, of course, as history would have it, the only way towards aquiring any goodness at any point after mankind had access to goodness was to convert to Christianity, generally at the tip of a sword. Or is this an invention of the imagination, if we are analyzing the history and ascent of Christianity?
In Islam, we are taught that each of us has a part of our being that is inherently good, meaning aligned with God. This is referred to as Fitra in Arabic. This inherent goodness was born the moment, right after Prophet Adam was cast down to Earth from Paradise, when all of our souls testified that there is no God but Allah. Each one of us proclaimed this before we awoke from that long slumber between the moment that our souls were born, and the moment that we gained consciousness in this life. Of course, we are also told of an evil side, the ego, what is referred to as Nafs in Arabic, but which Christians would refer to as “the flesh”. This inherent duality of good and bad, of rightness and evil, is recognized and spoken about often in the Quran and in the religion of Islam. And, one recognized by many, if not most of the religions of today, and throughout history. But to believe that we are all born inherently wicked defies the logic of the sound mind.
And this understanding of the Covenenat of Alast, of our unanimous proclamation that there is no God but Allah, explains the natural tendency of all humans towards repentence. Even as a child, when we sin, we feel guilt, we feel shame. Some, specifically social scientists operating in the secular space, would say that our guilt and shame is simply a natural psychological response that we have when we violated the social norms and mores to which we are conditioned. And yes, there may be truth to this. But if we live long enough, we know that guilt and remorse, shame and a need to repent for our sins, is a natural, meaning inherent, tendency of all humans. If this is an inherent tendency, then surely it would make sense that our conviction is based an innate tendency towards obedience to The Creator, our Lord.
These are thoughts of a Muslim convert on a Sunday.
When I was a Christian, I had many questions that I sought answers to which no scholarly source, nor logic, nor the Bible itself could answer.
One was how it would make sense that God would’ve only appeared to one people, and would only provide access to His message, and to the true religion, thousands of years after creation, and to just one people, who then were tasked with spreading that knowledge all over the world, historically at the point of a sword, as it were.
Islam and The Quran teach us otherwise. Instead, we are told by the Prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, conveyed to him by Allah, that a prophet was sent to every people on Earth, with the direct and simple message that There is but One God, and He is The Only One worthy of worship. Each people thus had direct access to Truth from within their own historical experience, by way of messengers sent directly by God–all with the same message. In total, we are told there were 124,000 prophets, but only 25 are mentioned in The Quran.. And this makes complete sense.
Of course, not every people obeyed. Many peoples, such as those of Prophets Lot, Saleh, and Noah, peace be upon them all, were consequently destroyed as a lesson and a warning.