In the name of God, the beneficent and most merciful.

“The Quran and the Bible do not contradict each other, except where the Bible contradicts itself.”

I shall begin this article by mentioning a quote from Albert Einstein. A scientist who did not discount the fact that there is a creator of the heavens and the earth.

“Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.” ~Albert Einstein

Current situation right now

The world we live in right now, 2000 years after prophet Jesus and 1400 years after prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon them both) is wrought with many challenges to our faith and our decent and moral way of life.

Worldly distractions, temptations and other detractions that make us stray from the right path abound.

But I hope all of mankind would believe in God and be steadfast in following the way in which God has decreed for us.

This world is not permanent. We are transient beings

First and foremost, I’d like to remind myself and to everyone in this world that this world is not permanent. Everything shall come to pass.

“In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Genesis 3:19)

“From the (earth) did We create you, and into it shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you out once again.” (Quran chapter Ta-Ha. 20:55)

From these 2 similar message from both the Bible and the Quran, we can understand that everything comes from the Creator and to Him shall all things in this world be returned to.

It is with this basic belief that a person has peace in his heart; no matter whatever greatness that has been bestowed on him, or whatever calamity that has befallen him. Because the believing person knows that all these that he faces will all come to pass. Nothing is permanent.

Search for the Truth

The topic at hand is a rather huge undertaking for me as a student of knowledge who has just started to get deeper into his own faith in God. But nevertheless, I strongly believe in writing this out as a way of laying out my own thinking and also to help others out there who are searching out for the truth. May this article reach your heart to get you to search out for the truth yourself.

The need to recognize other religions in this planet

Because the world has become smaller with the advent of high speed communication, mode of transportation and other speedy contraptions; it has become common knowledge to everyone that there are many religions out there, calling out to mankind to acknowledge and to worship God the creator of the heavens and the earth.

There are of course people who reject the idea of God in totality. I will of course address this in another article, to try to explain that rejecting the “idea” of the existence of God is illogical. As a quick insight to this, picture a key.

The question is this: Who made the key, and for what purpose is the creation of this key?
another similar question that every human being asks him or herself: Who made me, and what is the purpose of my existence?

In the bible, there is an answer to this:

“Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

In the Quran, there is a similar message to that in the Bible:

“I have only created jinns and men, that they may worship Me.” (Quran chapter Adh Dhariyat [The wind that scatter] 51:56)

What does the word “Islam” mean?

At this point I think it will be good to educate and remind everyone in the world the meaning of the word “Islam” in the English language. Islam is an arabic word and it is derived from the root word سلم which means submission to the will of God. It also means peace.

Islam means submission to the will of God.

A person who does Islam, is called a Muslim.

In English, a person who does an action, a suffix “er“ is added to the verb. For example:

Work > worker

Travel > traveller

Recite > reciter

but we don’t say Islam > Islamer

In Arabic, the prefix “mu” is added to the verb. As an example:

سفر (safr = travel) >مسافر (musafr = traveller)

Azan (the call to prayer)  >  Muazan (the person who does the call to prayer)

Islam (submission to will of God)  >  Muslim (the person who submits to the will of God)

All religions in this world calls out to us to do good and acknowledge the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Most people after realizing that there are many religions out there, will come to the conclusion that all religions are the same. All of these religions are calling out to mankind for the very things that are already in the basic human natural instinct; that is to do good, have good moral values and to acknowledge that there is a greater power that creates the heavens and the earth.

This basic human instinct is actually ingrained in us all. Ever since we were born. In Islam we call this the state of Fitra.

Fitra means in the pure, sinless, faultless and with the basic understanding of moral values and the acknowledgement and submission to the will of God (Islam).

Prophet Muhammad said, “No child is born except on Al-fitra (Islam) and then his parents make him Jewish, Christian or Magian (Zoroastrian), as an animal produces a perfect young animal: do you see any part of its body amputated?”
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Book 23, Number 441

Some people may also say that all religions have the same goal, it is just that the way to reach the “end goal” is different.

If all religions have the same end purpose but their means to reach this end purpose all differ from each other, which one should we follow?

A skeptical mind will definitely think that all these religions are all man-made! If they are man-made, why then should we follow a man-made religion?

That will surely be FOLLY!

Surely we can’t be following the ways of ALL these religions without questioning them. The only logical question that comes to our mind is:

which is the TRUE path to reach God? How do I know that what I am following is not man-made? Can you prove it?

Produce your proof if truly without doubt your religion is not man-made and completely from God almighty.

Because our topic focusses on the Quran and the Bible, I will only be discussing on the 2 religions that use these books.

Christians hold on dearly to their Bible as the true words of God and they believe that no one will enter paradise unless they be Christians.

People of the Jewish faith also hold their Bible as the true words of God. They too believe that none will enter paradise unless they be Jewish.

Do note that both of these faiths use the same books.

The Jews say: “The Christians have naught (to stand) upon; and the Christians say: “The Jews have naught (To stand) upon.” Yet they (Profess to) study the (same) Book. Like unto their word is what those say who know not; but Allah will judge between them in their quarrel on the Day of Judgment.(Quran, chapter Al Baqarah [The cow] 2:113)

To understand what I mean by quoting this verse from the Quran, watch this dialogue between a Jewish rabbi Tovia Singer and a Christian Dr. William Lane Craig.

What do Muslims say about this?

God says in the Quran:
“And they say: “None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian.” Those are their (vain) desires. Say: “Produce your proof if ye are truthful.” (Quran Chapter Al Baqarah [The Cow] 2:111)

Examining the 2 Holy books: The Bible and the Quran

The Bible is regarded by Christians all over the world as the true words of God. Inside it contains the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.

Christians do not believe in any other book to guide them in this world and the hereafter. Because of this, most Christians  do not know much about Islam, let alone the contents in the Quran.

The Quran is regarded by all Muslims all over the world as the true word of God. Inside it contains the last revelation from God and it is regarded by Muslims as the Final Testament.

Why do Muslims regard the Quran as the Final Testament? This is because Muslims believe in both the Old and the New Testament that was originally bestowed upon prophet Moses (Musa), prophet David (Dawud) and prophet Jesus(‘Isa). Peace and blessings to them all.

And prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings to him) was given the final revelations from God through the angel Gabriel (Jibreel) as a rahmah (mercy, compassion) and guidance for all mankind till the end of time.

Before I begin a humble surface examination of the 2 books, I’d like to clear a few common misconceptions about the Quran and get it out of the way first.

Common misconception about the Quran

1) The Quran is not a book. “Quran” means “Recitation”. Quran is something that you recite and listen to. For example, you can only play and listen to music. The sheet music that you see is just a representation of that music. The Quran has been preserved and protected for 1400 years not through storing of the physical book, but through the memorization of all the 114 chapters in totality. Letter for letter. And today, there are millions of Muslims who have memorized the whole Quran. And each Muslim also has at the very least one chapter memorized and that is the first chapter called Fatiha (The Opening).

2) Translations of the Quran are not to be taken as the authentic Quran. As I have presented in my previous article with regards to translations, we must acknowledge that any translations of the Quran done by man inherently come with the translator’s own perception of the meaning of the Quran. It does not necessarily convey the true original meaning of the Quran. Why so? This is because Arabic is a very rich language. A single root word in Arabic can convey multiple meanings. Muslims are exceptionally particular on the authenticity of the Quran. Translations are not considered the authentic Quran. Any ambiguity that arises from these translations should be resolved by referring back to the original source which is in Arabic.

to be continued..

I feel a certain dire need to put out an article on this because of an incident that happened to me about a month ago.

I was having desserts with 2 Singaporean friends who happen to be Christians. One of them asked me who or what do Muslims worship?

I have to thank her for asking me about my religion. I could at least, in that limited time explain to her who Muslims pray to.

And this is why I have a compelling need to write this. It is surprising to me to find out that a lot of Christians do not know that God in the bible is the same God that is in the Quran.

Allah  is the proper noun for God in the Arabic language. This is how the Arabic writing looks like in the Quran: اللهُ

In the Arabic translation of the bible, اللهُ  is also used for the word God.

For example in the first verse of the first chapter (Genesis) in the bible:

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

In the Arabic bible, this is how it looks like:

فِي الْبَدْءِ خَلَقَ اللهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ.

Notice the characters I underlined? It is the same Arabic word used in the Quran for God.

Thus everyone must know, that in Islam, Muslims worship Allah, the same God that Christians and the Jews refer to in the bible.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all what we call “Abrahamic” faith. They have their roots from the beginning of time when God created Adam and until prophet Abraham when he called on his people to stop praying to idols which they had created by their own hands and to acknowledge and worship only ONE God. The creator of the heavens and the earth.

Monotheism was preached by all the prophets since prophet Adam (peace and blessings upon him).

So back to Monotheism. This is the common teachings in the 3 holy books.

In the Jewish Torah:  “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God”  (Isaiah 44:6);

In the Bible: “The Lord our God is one Lord” (Mark 12:29);

In the Quran: “He is God, the One and Only” (Quran 112:1).

Monotheism is not only the unifying factor in these 3 religions. All the prophets mentioned in the holy books from the Jewish faith and Christianity are found in the Quran. For example the prophets Adam, Jonah, David, Solomon, Noah, Lot, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Moses  are all found in the Quran.

The major difference between the 3 religions is when Jesus is not in the teachings of the Jewish faith.

Only Christianity and Islam believe in prophet Jesus and his miraculous birth. A Muslim cannot call oneself a Muslim if one does not believe in prophet Jesus (peace and blessings on him).

Thus far, I will present some verses and teachings from all the 3 different faiths and hopefully shed light on how they are truly the same between the 3 religion. But because this article is about reconciling Christianity and Islam, I will inadvertently not mention much about the Jewish Faith. Though the old Testament used by the Jews are also found in the Christian Bible.

Unifying factors between Christianity and Islam

The unifying factors between this 2 religion can be found in the teachings in both the holy Bible and the holy Quran. There are many but I shall list down a few:

Humbling while Praying by Bowing Heads to the Ground:

“Abraham fell his face…” (Genesis 17:3).
“Moses…bowed his head…” (Exodus 34:8).
“Jesus…fell on his face and prayed…” (Matthew26:39).

Muslims pray in the same way. Just go to any masjid in near your hometown and observe. Muslims are actually continuing the teachings of the prophets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/galleries/salah/

At this point, the question I have for Christians is this: why is the prophet’s practices and teachings in the holy Bible not followed?

Not bowing to statues/images:

“Thou shall not…any graven image…(Exodus).
Muslims do not bow to statues, images or anything except God.

Now at this point I want to show you the contrast between a typical Catholic church and a Masjid.

many statues and images in a Catholic Church

Decoration of Trees:

It is forbidden in the Bible (Jeremiah 10:2-5).
Muslims do not decorate trees.

Christmas tree. Well decorated.

Everlasting Covenant:

God made everlasting covenants with Abraham and his descendants.
Muslims still keep this covenant; they circumcise their sons at birth.
The Jewish faith also require their sons to circumcise at birth.

Yet another question. Why are Christians not following this requirement in the Bible?

Disapprove Homosexuality:

“…the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah..He overthrew those cities…”  (Genesis).
Homosexuality is forbidden in Islam.

Another question is this: This is clear in the bible. But why are there homosexual priests and archbishops today? Why do Christians allow this?

Wine drinking prohibited:

“…drink neither wine nor strong drink…” (Luke 1:15).
Muslims do not drink wine or alcohol ever.

Why are Christians allowing the drinking of wine, even if its in small amounts?

Catholic priest with a chalice for mass wine

Pork is forbidden:

God ordered Moses: “And the swine is unclean to you…” (Leviticus 11:7). Jesus never ate pork in his life.
Muslims never eat pork.

Jewish faith prohibits the followers from eating pork.

McPork in Japan

Why do Christians eat pork? It is clearly stated in the bible that Pork is forbidden. Some Christians will say that the teachings of Paul in the new Testament says its permissible to eat pork. Paul who was never a disciple or a companion of Jesus. He even persecuted the Christians! So why are his “visions of Jesus” in his dream made out to be the truth?

Jesus himself said as recorded in the holy Bible:
¹⁷Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)

What does this say? It clearly says that Jesus’ teachings are not against the teachings of the prophets of the past, like the teachings of Moses. Jesus did not come to change the law. Not even the slightest bit. Now if Jesus says this himself, why then do Christians hold the teachings of Paul in greater honor than Jesus? Who is a better person; Jesus or Paul?

Who IS Paul really? Is he really one of Jesus’ disciples? Or did he himself proclaim a disciple of Jesus? Did he really know Jesus like how the 12 disciples knew Jesus?

Clearly there is a clear contradiction between the Old and the New Testament.

Listen to what Joel Osteen, a Christian Minister is calling on his congregation in this conference to stop eating pork.

Anyway, here’s another interesting thing that’s a bit more current.

There are a lot of debate happening now in the Western world on whether the word Allah should be substituted for the word God in the bible. A lot of Christian ministers and leaders in these English speaking countries are up in arms against it. They would only recognize the letters “G” “O” “D” that make up the word God. But why be so vehement about it?

Take for example a certain Catholic priest called Father Jonathan Morris. An American who’s native tongue is American English spoke adamantly against the usage of Allah instead of God to refer to the creator of the Heavens and the Earth. The Creator whom all Jewish, Christians and Muslims worship to.

Watch this video and open your mind against his bias towards the English language, so much so that he marginalized the Arab Christians who has been using the name Allah to represent God in the Arabic Bible.

And then in the later part of the interview he makes his point that he doesn’t know whether Muslims worship the same God as Christians do. And he also make the insecure statement to mean that Allah that Muslims worship is the same God that Muslim terrorists call out to.

Why I say insecure is because these terrorist who claim themselves Muslims are actually against the teachings in the Quran and the teachings of prophet Muhammad. Also, they are minute number of people among the populations that call themselves Muslims. For Father Jonathan Morris to give such a statement boldly is truly shortsighted.

Again I must explain why I say his statement is shortsighted. Everybody in this world must know that even in the Christian population in this world there are many acts of terrorism that are happening. Why are they not hyped up in the media?

There are many people who may be swayed by Father Jonathan Morris when he said what he said. Most of them I would hazard a guess would come from America. The mass media there is forever portraying and highlighting the terrorist acts by these so called Muslims. Why are the terrorist acts done by the Israelis on the Palestinians not heard of much in the UK and in the US?

But of course this is out of the context of this article. So let’s move on.

After saying all that, my point is this. Everyone in this world should know that prophet Jesus (peace and blessings to him) and his people during his time spoke Aramaic. Thus his scriptures and his books were all written in Aramaic.

Aramaic is a sister language to Arabic and Hebrew.

If you watch Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”, you can hear the actor portraying Jesus crying out loud “Elahi!” when he was hung on the cross.

"elahi.."

In Hebrew the word God is Elohim.

The original Bible was most definitely in Aramaic. However it is a fact that the original Bible in Aramaic during Jesus’ time can longer be found. However some parchments from the Dead Sea scrolls that were found, were written in Aramaic describing the sayings of prophet Jesus.

The bible now 2000 years after Jesus time has been translated into many languages. The most widely used language now is English.

We have to understand the events that happened to the translations of the Bible since 2000 years ago.

To put it simplistically:

Aramaic (original) translated to Greek and later translated to Latin and much later translated to English in most countries right now.

Please forgive me for this is a simplified historical layout. I have not mentioned all other languages that the Bible has been translated into. But just know that it has been translated into many languages through the ages.

Keep in mind that the original Bible during Jesus’ time which is in Aramaic, can no longer be found.

Lost in Translation

I like this movie. But it has nothing to do with my article here. Just that I liked the phrase “Lost in Translation”.

Everyone must of course know that if you translate a sentence or a passage from one language to another, the original meaning can not really be truly expressed.

For example, Japanese likes to say よろしくお願いします　”yoroshiku onegaishimasu”. In English the literal translation to this is “please cooperate with me”. However, the real meaning among Japanese people is actually much more than this. In this 2 words, the Japanese can actually make it to mean many things. In English it can roughly translate to “please remember me” or “please help me”, or “please treat me well” and more! But do keep in mind that this is very difficult to express accurately in English because those 2 simple Japanese words has a greater meaning for them.

Now to relate back to the holy Bible, the original Bible written in Aramaic can no longer be found. It is lost or destroyed. What happened was translations of it was made into Greek. Imagine how the meaning of the original text can easily be lost in translation.

After 2000 years, what we have now are the copies of the Holy Bible translated into many different languages. The most popular being the English translations.

In contrast, the Quran which was revealed 1400 years ago is still the same Quran found today. 1400 years after prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings on him) died. Millions of people from all over the world memorize the whole Quranic scriptures from cover to cover. These people who memorized all the verses in the Quran if they are to hear anyone making a mistake when reciting the Quran they will immediately point out the error.

After stating these facts, I would like to emphasize that Muslims have to believe in the original Bible as well as the original Torah as part of the tenets of belief in Islam. However, Muslim are not able to accept the Bible or Torah in its entirety now because it is no longer in its original text. However we do acknowledge that there are remnants of the true teachings of the prophets as well as God’s words in those 2 holy books.

In the next article I will make a case why Muslims consider the Holy Bible today cannot be taken as the true words of God in totality.

Went to Otaru dream beach after the sunflower fields on the same day.

By this time, I have grown used to the sights of the black/gray sands found on Japanese beaches (with the exception of Okinawa).

Had fun taking photos here.

at the beach

reach out

running

race

Aug 15 2009

Otaru Hokkaido, Japan

Went to the world of sunflower located in Hokuryu in Hokkaido.

Wonderful place. Had sunflower ice cream as well!

teddy bear sunflower

Claret Sunflower

furby

me and my buddy

we have arrived!

an ostrich in the sunflower garden?

sunflower field

another sunflower field

at the fields of the blazing sun

sunflower ice cream

Hokuryu Hokkaido, Japan

15 August 2009

Was invited to a house gathering at Widya san’s place. She is a wonderful lady and a very good cook!

May god bless her and her family.

Sapporo, Japan

26 July 2009

We had a barbecue at Morita san’s place on Friday. We wanted to also watch the fireworks at Toyohira river that day. In July the summer festival is in full swing in Sapporo. Toyohira river is one of the places that people here can go to to celebrate the coming of summer.

Morita san’s place is close to the river.

We bbq’ed these mushrooms

the view from the bridge overlooking the river and beyond

the toyohira river bridge

Of course these photos don’t really capture the “feel” of the evening.

Here’s a video of that day.

Moerenuma Park is certainly amazing. It was designed by Isamu Noguchi.

I learnt that he didn’t live to see the completed park.

The park is just next to Satoland.

Here are some pictures I took there.

mount Moere stairway

that's play mountain

hidamari glass pyramid from afar

Exterior facade of Hidamari Glass Pyramid

Me and mr X at the top of the Glass pyramid

inside the glass pyramid

They say there is a good and ecologically sound heating system within the pyramid

View through the ceiling of the glass lift in the glass pyramid

the view inside the glass lift

looking out at Hidamari

I saw these insects up here atop the glass pyramid

At the Music Shell

the tetra mound from far

on the tetra mound

Climbing up the play mountain. "The road ahead is hard. But never give up!"

long climb up mount Moere

I was there at the play mountain

doing the tai qi on top of mount Moere

Proof we're on top of Mount Moere

view from the foot of mount moere

its almost time for the water fountain show at 7pm! Run for it!

This picture of the huge water fountain doesn't do it justice. You have to see it in action for yourself

Morenuma Park, Sapporo Japan

20 July 2009

Satoland is a big park in Sapporo. You can make cheese and take a horse ride here (very popular with kids).

"Satoland" in hiragana

Big place to navigate through

mini pedal cars

The horse is too hungry...he bites and chews off the fence!

Got milk?

How now, brown cow?

young calf

Building at the cow farm

corn

great place to take a nap

Satoland Sapporo, Hokkaido Japan

20 july 2009

This place is called tecchan. I can’t remember which building this restaurant is in, but the moment you get to the floor and step out of the elevator, your visual senses become so overwhelmed I became disorientated for a good 3 seconds!

First the place is dark. Second there were so many weirdly old newspaper and magazine cuttings of advertisements from 1970’s 1980’s fashion models covering the walls. Hanging toys blocking your way out of the elevator and weird old toys and masks welcoming us.

It was freaky.

a boat load of raw seafood!!

KUJIRA! Whale meat sashimi. bloody...

Overwhelmingly decorated. We felt claustrophobic.

13 July 2009

Susukino, Sapporo Japan

Finally I got to visit Farm Tomita at the right season!

Back in 2007 I went there in the middle of June. No lovely purple sea of lavender nor the different colors of flowers. Was quite disappointed back then. But I am back!

enjoying the view of the Irodori field

Lavender ice cream

Buzzzzz....

Irodori Field

Tomita family first started to cultivate Lavender in 1958. They succeeded in 1970 and the planting area of lavender reaches its largest at 230 hectare

at Irodori field

Daisies

Poppy House

Poppy House

Dried Lavender, one of the lavender products sold in the poppy house

inside the green house

At Sakiwai field

Ezokanzou lilies only found in Hokkaido

orange Marigold

yellow Marigold

At the Sakiwai field

in a sea of lavender

12 July 2009

Furano, Hokkaido Japan