LETTER TO ISMA’IL MY BROTHER


Dear Isma’il,
            It’s rather sad and unfortunate that our brotherhood and the warm relationship of love we’ve enjoyed all our lives until recently, has unavoidably gone sour, to say I’m being ostracized as an out-cast from the family on the basis of my decision to believe in “Isah Al-Masih (Jesus Christ)” will be an unpardonable understatement. I write these few lines to you being fully aware that the Fatwa (a legal injunction from an Islamic authourity) warranting my death-sentence still hangs over my head, because I’m now considered an infidel who doesn’t deserve to live.
             I feel sorry to see the family that Father worked so hard to raise now divided and in tatters on the basis of my decision to follow Isah Al-masih, but in actual fact I have no regret discovering the very essence of life and true unconditional love which I never experienced in Islam all my life. This for me is something worth living or dying for (without necessarily sending innocent souls to hell pre-maturely). I never remember hearing or tasting anything about unconditional love in Islam until I found out about a God who loved me and all of mankind unconditionally before I ever loved or even knew Him, a God who saw that I lacked the ability to meet His requirement for Salvation and substituted Himself for me thereby paying the price for my sin and purchasing my redemption from his own account of righteousness without an arbitrary reduction of His standard of Justice, a God who in spite of my imperfection granted me full assurance of salvation by granting me eternal security, a status that Islam promises only through Martyrdom in a Jihad, a God who provided answers to all of life’s questions and soothing comfort in turbulent times which Islam never offered.
              If you had to make a Choice between: A God who gives salvation as a free gift (John 14:16, Acts 4:12, Romans 3:24-26, 10:13, Ephesians 2:8-9, II Timothy 2:5) and one who may consider you on the basis of conditions your may never truly meet (Surah 11:114, 2:47). Between a God who guarantees absolute certainty of salvation and eternal security (John 10:37-39, 10:28, Romans 5:1, 8:1) if you believe in Him and one who promises certainty of salvation only through martyrdom in a Jihad (a fight for his cause on earth) (Surah3:157, 4:5) as if he’s unable to fight for his own cause? Which will you settle for? If a male warrior who dies in Jihad is guaranteed of a paradise with Pleasure, Wine and (70) seventy chaste maidens (virgins) waiting for him (Surah 3:195), what happens to a female Jihadist/suicide-bomber who takes thousands of “infidels’ lives” within split-seconds along with hers? What will be her reward, 70 men? Or…? Well these are not even the actual questions that bothered me, the questions to which Islam have failed to provide me answers to are:
1.      If the Qur’an  agrees that Isah Al-Masih was/is indeed;
A.   Born of a Virgin(Surah 3:47, 19:20-20)
B.   The Messiah (Al-Masih) (Surah 3:45, 4: 157, 171)
C.   Sinless (Surah 19:19)
D.   The Word of God (Kalithu-lah) (Surah 3:45, 4:171)
E.   The Spirit of God (Ruhu-lah) (Surah 66:12)
F.   A Sign for all people (Surah 19:21, 21:91)
G.   The Word of Truth (Surah 19:34)
but goes on to say Isah is neither God nor is he the Son of God. Then who is Isah? Whose son is he? Son of Mary?
2.     If indeed according to the Qur’an: God is able to see without eyes, hear without ears and talk without tongue, why can’t He have a son without a wife?
3.     If there’s nothing more extra-ordinary or Supernatural about Isah other than just being a mere Prophet of God as the Qur’an claims, why then is there more emphasis and mentioning of Him about 25 times, 21 times more than Muhammad “the Seal of the Prophets and final Prophet” in the Qur’an?
4.   If indeed the Qur’an agrees with the Bible about the creative power of the word of a God who is able to create whatever He wills through the Word(Surah 3:47) and also that Isah is the word God (Surah 3:45, 4:171), why is it so tough to believe that God and His word are one?  Is the Word the Creator or the Creation?
5.     If you think that the Bible {Taurat (Torah given to Moses), Zabur (Psalms given to David, Solomon and other Prophets) and Injeel (given to Isah and His followers),} as used by Jews and Christians today have all been altered; I simply ask in all sincerity to pursue the Truth, who made these alterations? When and Why? Where was God when these alterations were made? Could He have been too weak to keep Or guard His own word from Piracy?  Could he have been unable to preserve the Taurat, Zabur and Injeel but able to preserve just the Qur’an? That’s 1 out 4, whoever scores 25% out 100% and claims to have passed an exam? Didn’t God say in Surah 15:9 that: He had, without doubt, sent down the Message, and he will surely guard it (from corruption)?
6.     If you think that Christians are polytheist worshipping 3 gods because you hear them mention God; the Father, Son(Isah) and the Holy Spirit (not Mary as the Qur’an alledges) as one Triune being manifested to mankind in 3 distinct dimensions; I ask you,  when you recite “Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim”(in the name of Allah, The Merciful and The compassionate) or recite the 99 beautiful names of Allah, are you referring to Allah,  Al-Rahman and Al-Rahim as 3 or 99 separate gods? Or the distinct qualities, personalities and the dimensions of the same God? Both the Bible and Qur'an attests to the omnipresent attribute of God, for this to be possible in my view, God has to be Hyper-Multi-Dimensional, meaning God is simply too incomprehensible, unfathomable and too infinite to be measured or comprehended with our finite minds, otherwise He wouldn't and can't be God.  Isaiah 40:28 says "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding." I'm simply saying God is beyond 3 dimensions or any dimensions of human comprehension but He has however revealed Himself to mankind in 3 Dimensions. I've simply stopped defining an infinite God with my finite mind.

Dear Brother, I know that by reason of my decision and my current status in Islam as an "Infidel" I don't qualify to address you "Brother", in fact I'm sure You'll gladly take of my head in obedience to Surah 47:4 and eagerness to take away the supposed shame I have or now bring to the family and become the "Hero" of the family. But remember we were taught that an Idolater or Infidel is anyone who doubts or disbelieves Allah (God) or His prophet even for a moment; will you confidently say you have never doubted God's sovereignty or raised Idols in your heart which took God's place in your heart even for a moment? Did God kill you instantly?  Hasn't it ever crossed your your mind that man's hopelessness and inherent inclinations to doing evil is the reason why the very judgemental ones call others "Infidel" at the slightest error which they discover? If God was as judgemental as we were taught in Islam, we all will possibly not be alive or ever grow to adulthood. If He "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4) were not patiently waiting for all men to discover and embrace his plan of eternal Salvation for mankind, we will all be doomed for eternity and lost for ever. If sin(s) was/were as mild as just mere mistakes that God could overlook simply because someone’s good out-weighed his sins, then Heaven will no longer be the Perfect place it's meant to be. Sin is so deadly and so cancerous that God will have none of it in Heaven just the way you will dread a glass of clean water that had a needle from sewage dipped in it!
     We all inherited a sinful nature from Adam's tragic fall according to Romans 5:12, 3:23 which accounts for man's natural lust and inclinations towards evil. Through Adam ..."all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23) meaning nobody qualified to enter Heaven since nobody was perfect inside-out.  But again God being unwilling to compromise His standard of righteousness but yet not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9) for this He (God) decided to come down to earth and rescue mankind from the deadly, cancerous and menacing repercussions of sin through the ministry of His Word(Jesus whom Surah 3:45, 4:171 calls Kalimatuhu Ullah i.e. the word of God). Thus we can now fully obtain the righteousness that guarantees salvation and eternity through faith in Jesus Christ.  This is what I have come to know, believe and am ready to die for because I can boast confidently about the certainty of my eternal Salvation. The Cross therefore is the Positive plus sign of God's love to take-away the Negative sin of the World.
        Who in the world will have such a juicy offer on the table and settle for less? It's much safer and easier to bank on salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, than on a remote or near impossible chance of salvation through good deeds or martyrdom in a Jihad, destroying God's creatures in the name of defending God's cause here on earth as if he were too weak to defend His own cause. By the Qur'an's standards, the radical Islamic Jihadist is the only true Muslim and the surest way to certainty of Salvation is by payment of the supreme price in a Jihad with your own blood, (Something He’s already done for us). Leon Uris in "the Hajj" identified the basic Cannon of Arab-Islamic life as being informed on this Basis: "Me against my brother; me and my brother against my father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; the tribe against world; and all of us against the Infidel. I’m sorry I simply can’t settle for such a life when there is a better offer on the table for me! Never!!!
        However, my last word for you is this; I Sincerely Love All Muslims (ISLAM), only in faith do I disagree with you and will do anything within reach to bring them all to the knowledge of the truth. As for you Brother, I earnestly look forward to seeing you and the entire family in Heaven.
                                                                                   From Your Brother
                                                                                    El-Nasir Abdl-Al-Masih

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