If God of Everyone is the same, why there are so many religions?

One question, that is  If God of Everyone is the same, why there are so many religions?" has always puzzled people following different faiths. While everyone intrinsically believes in one Supreme Being, the Creator of the entire universe, yet his feet stop at the bounds of the faith he is following. Let us try to answer the question today through this post and then also listen to one of the eminent scholar of Islam, Dr Zakir A Naik.

The existence of many religions, despite the belief in one God by many, can be understood through theological, historical, and human factors. Here's an explanation in light of Islamic teachings, as well as general considerations:

• Reasons for Multiple Religions
• Human Free Will and Interpretation
• Humans are given the ability to think, interpret, and make choices. This freedom allows for diverse interpretations of divine messages.
• Over time, these interpretations can lead to differences in beliefs, practices, and the establishment of new religious systems.
• Distortion of Original Messages: Islam teaches that the original revelations given to earlier prophets (e.g., the Torah, Psalms, and Gospel) were true but were altered over time, leading to the emergence of various religions. "They change the words from their [proper] places..." (Quran 5:13)
• Sociocultural and Historical Factors
• Religion often develops in response to the cultural, social, and historical contexts of different communities.
• People adapted religious teachings to fit their lifestyles or political agendas, leading to the formation of unique traditions and beliefs.
• Test of Diversity Diversity in beliefs is part of Allah's test for humanity. The Quran states: "To each of you We prescribed a law and a method. Had Allah willed, He would have made you one nation [united in religion], but [He intended] to test you in what He has given you; so, compete in good deeds." (Quran 5:48)

Wisdom Behind Religious Diversity

From an Islamic viewpoint, the diversity of religions is part of Allah's divine plan. Some reasons might include:

• A Test for Humanity: Religious diversity tests humanity's sincerity in seeking the truth and submitting to it. "And We did not create the heavens and earth and everything between them, except in truth and [for] a specified term." (Quran 46:3)
• Evidence of Human Freedom: The variety of beliefs reflects the human exercise of free will, a gift from Allah.
• Opportunity for Dialogue: The existence of multiple religions encourages mutual learning, understanding, and striving for common ground.

"O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another." (Quran 49:13)

The Oneness of God in Islam

The barrier start the emergence of Islam. With the Divine Revelations to Prophet Musa (Moses, peace be upon him) the birth of Jewism commenced. And the Jews considered them the superior nation. But with the birth of Prophet Eesa (Jesus, peace be upon him), another Divine religion came to forth, which was forcefully detested and contested by the Jews, which finally resulted into Crucifixion of Jesus. Now we had two religions contesting each other. But the advent of Islam which teaches that Allah is the one and only God, the Creator of all humanity, a common enemy was found both by Jews and followers of Jesus. Both religion instead of understanding the progressive process of Divine religions which has been culminated into Islam, the last Divine religion, turned against Islam. The major clash came from the followers of Jesus who found a threat to their belief that Jesus is the son of God and thus shares some powers of God, or some even consider him to be at par with God.

Thus from an Islamic perspective, the answer to the question so posed can be understood as under:

Original Revelation of Oneness: Allah sent prophets to every nation to guide humanity to His worship alone. The Quran states:

"And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], 'Worship Allah and avoid false gods.'" (Quran 16:36)

Over time, the original message became distorted or forgotten, leading to deviations and the formation of other religions.

Islam’s Perspective on the True Religion

Islam asserts that:

• The ultimate truth lies in the worship of Allah alone and following His guidance.
• Islam is the final and complete version of the original message sent to all prophets:
• "Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam." (Quran 3:19)
• Differences arose because of human actions, but Islam views itself as a corrective to these deviations.

Unity Amid Diversity

While Islam acknowledges the multiplicity of religions, it also emphasizes the unity of humanity under one Creator:

"Say, 'O People of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you—that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords instead of Allah.' But if they turn away, then say, 'Bear witness that we are Muslims [submitting to Him].'" (Quran 3:64)

The existence of multiple religions, despite the belief in one God, reflects human diversity, free will, historical development, and the distortion of divine messages. Islam teaches that Allah has always been the God of everyone, but deviations occurred over time. Islam sees itself as the final and universal message meant to unite humanity under the worship of the one true God.

Thus, while Jews continue cling to their religion for being superior to others, followers of Jesus, though not agreeing with the One God concept of Jews, have instead focused their anger toward Islam for rejecting the concept of Trinity as against One God, called Allah by Muslims, and this self created confrontation has led to creation of many religions (which may also include the Hinduism, the Buddhism and Shintoism). 

If one analyses each religion, as has been and is being done by many a non Muslim and leading them to embrace Islam, one would find that right from the start, the Divine religions were to progressive and adding to the previous religion. This progressive progress finally culminated in the final Divine Religion, that is Islam. More and more followers of other religions are finding Islam more closer to Divine mindset rather than man written books. For example Bible is "about Jesus" and those reading Bible should know that in Bible Jesus speaks to them. On the contrary those reading Qur'an, the last of the four Divine Scriptures, feel that God is speaking to them, and not Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

This diversity in religions thus serves as a test and an opportunity for humans to reflect, seek truth, and live righteously amidst differences. Lucky and blessed are those who are finding the answers to their unanswered question in Islam which they could not find in their faith. 

Now, you may like to an enlightening video on the subject below by Zakir Abdul Karim Naik, an Islamic televangelist and Islamic preacher. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation. He is also the founder of the Peace TV:

Photo | For more questions about Islam as addressed by scholars of Islam, please refer to our reference page: Scholars' Viewpoint on important issues related to Islam. You may also refer to more Q&A about Understanding Islam. 

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How Islam Differs from Other Religions - Part II

This is the second post on the subject of how Islam differs from other religions and faith. In fact this post was to be more specific on many issues, but while searching for queries that non Muslims have and their view point about Islam, I came across some concerns which I thought I must talk out first before proceeding on certain specifics. 

This concern is about outright negation of religion of Islam. A comment caught my eye which said that this man made religion, pointing towards the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is nothing but based on illogical framework, which could only a many could write. Well this is something which I took seriously as we as Muslims believe in all holy scriptures before the Holy Quran and respect all prophets and messengers of Allah sent before the last of the prophets Muhammad (peace be upon him).

And this notion is not new as prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had confronted with the same opposition at the time of his revealing the word of Allah as revealed unto him more than 1400 years ago. And this sometimes dejected the prophet of Allah. and it were these times, when Allah revealed His assurance and condolence to his prophet:

[But] those who have disbelieved say, "You are not a messenger."  Say, "Sufficient is Allah as Witness between me and you, and [the witness of] whoever has knowledge of the Scripture - (Qur'an Surah Ar Ra'ad 13:43)  

"O People of the Scripture, there has come to you Our Messenger to make clear to you [the religion] after a period [of suspension] of messengers, lest you say, "There came not to us any bringer of good tidings or a warner." But there has come to you a bringer of good tidings and a warner. And Allah is over all things competent." (Qur'an Surah Al Madinah 5:19)

And now note this:

"And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, "O children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them with clear evidences, they said, "This is obvious magic." (Qur'an, Surah As-Saf 61:6)

Those who label Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to have written Qur'an himself, it may be added that that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was totally illiterate and expecting someone who did not know how to read and write coming up with such soul searching verses as contained in the Holy Qur'an is simply unbelievable. There had to be some divine power which was author of such scripture, the same way the earlier scriptures were revealed by Allah on earlier messengers.

Yet again comes the concept of crucification of Prophet Eesa (Jesus, may peace be upon him). I have already written a separate post on the issue. But a few words here again. While followers of Bible believe that the Christ was actually crucified and was then lifted up by the God on the third day, we as Muslims believe that it was not Prophet Eesa who was crucified but someone who resembled him as clearly narrated in the Qur'an:

"That they said [in boast], 'We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah'; but they killed him not,  nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who  differ therein are full of doubts, with no [certain] knowledge, but only  conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not." (Surah An Nisah 4:157)

On this negation, I have read many comments by the followers of the Bible who say that if we accept what Islam says about non-crucification of Christ, the whole central idea of Christianity would collapse.

And this is exactly the case. Every holy scripture has been an update on the previous scriptures and Allah has revealed his commandments slowly and gradually. What is contained in Bible about crucification is what people of the time "WITNESSED." They had no idea how Allah safeguarded his prophet from undergoing the agony of crucifixion and thus had someone else looking like Christ been crucified while Christ was taken up alive up in the heavens. For Allah, who has created this universe, the magnitude of which is far beyond our knowledge, replacing Prophet Eesa with someone who looked exactly like him that even his mother and friends could not feel the difference is something very easy and simple. Allah simply commands:

To be ("kun!" !كن), and it is (fa ya kūn فيكون)

"(Allah,) The Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, "Be," and it is." (Qur'an, Surah Al Baqara 2:117) 

Does after reading the verse above from Holy Qur'an there remains a doubt in the endless powers of the Allah Almighty the creator of this universe to do things much beyond our comprehension?

And it is this truth contained in the Holy Qur'an by virtue of which millions of followers of other faiths and religions have embraced Islam for they have found the enlightened path shown to them through commandments of Allah as contained in the Holy Qur'an revealed unto Prophet Muhammad.

Thus there is no harm in changing one's faith when one comes across the truth or an update on what we already know through the older scriptures - just like we have updates of our softwares everyday.

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How Islam Differs from Other Religions - Part I

Studying religions is always interesting for it is through studying the differences between religions, one can make a decision to stick to one's own beliefs and religion or make up one's mind to convert to a religion which overrides others in its essences and practicality.

My great grandfather was an ordinary man, yet he had a mind with full of question. Born Muslim, he thought he needed to know why should he continue to follow his faith which he has been practicing since his birth or what his family members believed in. So one day, in his prime youth, he left his house to  live with Hindu sadhus, Christians, Zoroastrians and even Jews. He spent good about five years of his life in search of truth while men of his youth were marrying and raising children. He traveled thousands of miles interacting with people of other religions to find answers. 

And then one day, when his family had lost all hopes of his return, he came back in a miserable condition due to excessive traveling but with an enlightened mind - he had the right answers to what he has been looking for - Islam was the religion which not only is a religion but a complete way of life. And then he preached the practical Islam to people of his village and those who came to him for seeking answers he once himself had.

All religions teach men to be clean, free of bigotry, hatred and enmity. No religion supports adultry, lies and talking ill of others in their absence. All religions talk of some divine power 'up there' but are not sure of its true definition. Even in Christianity, there is a confusion as to what God is - is it one entitiy or a combination of trinity.

Unlike all religions, Islam gives practical answers to every query one may have provided one is prepared to receive answers tangent to one's belief. The Holy Quran, the last of the Holy Scriptures after Pslams, Torah and Bible, gives out the code of conduct for the entire wordly life and of life hereafter to its followers. Unlike many other religions where the religious men detach themselves from the socitiey and enshrine them in places of worship, Islam is for ordinary peopel - living and raisning familes, working to earn bread and butter for self and family and at the same time praying and preaching.

In Islam, all men are equal and all fundamental rights of individual as well as of society have been clearly spelt out and no one is allowed to temper these. There is an ongoing wave in the Western societies, where there is a rise in rate of non Muslims converting to Islam, to cope up with a concept of secular Islam. That is to say being a Muslim, one looks like a non Muslim in how he lives and how he unfolds his Islamic aspirations. That is to say the West's concept of a secular Islam.

But here Islam differs from other regions. Since Allah, the One and the Almighty, has elaborated the concept of Islam in very clear and easy to understand terms, anyone who digresses from these teachings no more remain a practicing Muslim, for unless a man believes and practices what is been given to him from Allah, life cannot be lived as a true Muslim.

There are many who coerce Muslims to drink and eat pork for everyone else does, despite the fact that all Godly religions prohibit these. Now if some Muslim does it, he is deemed to have disobeyed his creator, Allah the Almighty.  Likewise adultery and sex outside marital bonds has become a norm all over the word. Even is some countries man and woman live with the marital bond and have children and then decide to marry or walk their separate ways. This is in fact collapse of the moral fiber of the society and an easy way to escape the responsibility of raising and owning a family and having legitimate children.

Thus Islam lays down responsibilities and guardianship over everyone so that everyone is respected, honoured and accounted for:

“Everyone of you is a guardian, and responsible for what is in his custody.  The ruler is a guardian of his subjects and responsible for them; a husband is a guardian of his family and is responsible for it; a lady is a guardian of her husband’s house and is responsible for it, and a servant is a guardian of his master’s property and is responsible for it.”

This is just the introduction - we will continue to talk about the subject in our coming posts.

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Please share this page to your friends and family members through Facebook, WhatsApp or any means on Social Media so that they can also be benefited by it and better understand Islam and the Holy Qur'an - Insha Allah (Allah Willing) you shall be blessed with the best of both worlds.

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