QUESTIONS FOR QUADAR AL RAHEEM AND RAHEEM ALI MUHAMMAD
Jamey Cannedy: I would like to ask you a few questions, Quadar. Can you basically tell us what Islam is?
Quadar Al Raheem: Islam is where one submits his own will to Allah. So he bares witness that there is no god but one God (one true God) whose name is Allah. Islam, uh, is to submit to the will of Allah . . . to the will of God . . . [unintelligible] . . . the Holy Qur'an, the book that was . . . the book that was written by Moses. Uh, we do believe that the Bible has been tampered with and re-written by mankind.
Raheem Ali Muhammad: Hello. I'd like to say to all who is [sic] listening - this is brother Raheem. And the question was put to us about Islam. Islam is one who submits his whole will to Allah, the one and true God. Islam only means to submit to one God. Islam is a way of life, not just one day of worship, but everyday of your life. When Allah created Man, He said, "Worship Him" and follow all of His scriptures from the Bible to the holy Qur'an. Uh, the Bible was given to the prophet Moses (the first five books of the Bible). Jesus came along and Allah gave him the gospel (the New Testament). And after Jesus taught then the prophet Muhammad came 600 years after him and received the scriptures of the holy Qur'an in 23 years. And Allah gave the Qur'an in order to make what is crooked in the Bible straight.
Jamey: Okay. And how does one become a Muslim?
Muhammad: By submitting his whole will to the will of Allah.
Jamey: And Allah is our God -
Muhammad: That's right.
Jamey: Do you know where the name "Allah" came from?
Muhammad: "Allah" comes from the Arabic. When the prophet Adam was in the world, it was called "Aramaic." When Moses and Abraham came, they started calling it "Arabic." [unintelligible] . . . then using a different dialect (Arabic) they started calling Him "Allah."
Jamey Cannedy: Okay.
Muhammad: In different languages His name changes in different languages [sic], like in the European it's "God." In Hebrew He's called "El." His name changes to us be He remains the same.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. We'll get onto another subject. The person or deity of Jesus Christ, and what . . . what would a Muslim believe about Jesus Christ who do you believe him to be?
Muhammad: We Muslims believe Jesus Christ is a prophet, and to me Jesus Christ was left with the knowledge of himself and what he came for. So he was the only prophet to me who came into the world who was bold enough to say, "This is my Father." If someone created me, I would say, "This is my Father, this is my Maker, this is my creation . . . Creator [Muhammad corrected himself here]." And if we read in the Bible, Jesus tells you in the Bible that God is his Father only of the Spirit, not biologically. You find nowhere in the Bible where he says, "This is my Father biologically." But now you will find in the Bible where Man had tampered with the Bible, trying to make him say that this is his Father biologically. But he never used the word "biological," just like they never took the word "Christianity" in the back of the Bible (what they call the concordance). It never used [sic] the word "Christianity."
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. That's pretty interesting. And on salvation, what would the Muslim believe on salvation?
Muhammad: Well, salvation . . . salvation, like I say, is Allah. He's our salvation. No one else is our salvation. Only the prophets bring the word of God and the message comes to the earth through the Apostles, they only bring the Word of God. And the Word of God says "Worship me and me alone."(1) He's our salvation, in Him alone.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. As far as what you stated about the Bible being tampered with, in the Qur'an does it talk about the Bible being tampered with?
Muhammad: Well, not in the . . . not in the scriptures do [sic] it say this. But what it tells in the Introduction of why the Qur'an was sent . . . well, we have what you call a Christian-Muslim dialogue where we have scholars (Christian scholars and Muslim scholars) who got together and sat down and read the Bible over and over. What they came up with is 50,000 mistakes exactly. If one goes into the Bible and reads the Bible diligently, he will find those same mistakes. But you have Christian scholars and theologians (all titles of scholars) who came together and said that it has been tampered with from the time if you bring down the ladder of how the Bible was broken down from Aramaic to Arabic to Hebrew to Latin. The purity's lost, do you see what I'm saying?
Jamey Cannedy: That makes sense and now let's get to heaven, a topic a lot of people are interested in. What is Jesus Christ's heaven and how would a Muslim enter heaven?
Muhammad: Well, we as Muslims we believe that heaven is a state of mind . . . is a state of being. See, we try not to think for Allah, first of all. If there is another life after this life, I have not yet understood that . . . [unintelligible]. What Allah says in the Bible . . . in the Qur'an that He has seven states of heaven, that is seven states of condition. You understand where I'm coming from?
Jamey Cannedy: Uh-huh.
Muhammad: So it's just like Hell. You have seven gates of Hell, which is seven gates of condition, which one puts himself in.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. In order to get to heaven, I guess you'll have to live a pretty sin-free life. So how would you describe sin and the many -
Muhammad: Could you repeat that again?
Jamey Cannedy: Okay, concerning sin, are there different levels of sin? Is one sin greater than another?
Muhammad: Well, sin is sin. It makes no difference how little the sin is. Sin is sin. But we're trying to overcome sin out of ignorance. By us being ignorant to sin we will not be held accountable to the one we started being held accountable to our life and who we are. We are accountable for whatever sin (in actions and deeds that one do [sic]). But if when you are raised or influenced to a certain condition of sin because this is how we were raised on these types of conditions. Now that we are coming up out of those conditions and reading and living the Word of God, we are now held accountable for our actions and deeds. And this is where our sins come in, and we must throw our sins by the wayside.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. In your personal life, how did you or Quadar become interested in Islam and how did that come about?
Muhammad: Say what, now?
Jamey Cannedy: In your personal lives, how were you introduced to Islam and the religion of Islam?
Muhammad: Well, for myself (when I got introduced to Islam) I got introduced to it when I was a very young age. But I never followed up on it while I was doing time up North. The Muslims never talked to me about Islam and [unintelligible] . . . made me want to seek Islam, but I was off into Christianity. But I noticed that a lot of guys that got into Christianity that I was dealing with (I'm not saying that all of them were), I was seeing something that had discipline to it. So I'm seeing a lot of guys sitting there faking, and I was faking along with it. So I found something that had discipline to it, something that I could have in my life, something that had morals in it and a spiritual head in it. So this is what introduced me to Islam. I heard the call from Allah.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. We have to break here for a minute . . . and we'll be back in just a few minutes and we're going to have a short break.
Muhammad: Okay.
[2 MINUTE BREAK]
[Quadar is now directly interviewed.]
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. We're back on the air with Quadar and Raheem. And I'm Jamey with Shandon in the studio.
Guthrie: Hello.
Jamey Cannedy: We're going to continue talking with Quadar. I would like to ask you a few questions concerning Islam. Now, Islam and Christianity . . . some people say that they can co-exist, yet others say that they are too different and have opposite points of view. What would you say to someone who comes to you with that argument, one of that type?
Quadar: That they are two different points of view of Muslims? What's the question again?
Jamey Cannedy: How would you respond to someone that said that Christianity and Islam (or the Muslim faith) are not compatible? Do you believe that they are compatible or the same?
Quadar: Well, like I say maybe, uh, maybe in certain areas between Islam and Christianity are they compatible . . . [unintelligible] We believe that Jesus is only a prophet, right? Christianity believes that he was the Son of God. It speaks this in John 8, I believe it is John 8, where Jesus was telling . . . It's John 8:54 where Jesus' said "My honor's nothing. It is my Father who I honor." We all look up higher toward Allah [unintelligible]. We know to the point that an angel came to Mary and said that she would bear a son. We know that God had power at this point and said "Be." And then Jesus came up from out of the womb from Mary. I really think that Islam and Christianity are two totally different religions.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. Do you believe Mary had a virgin birth?
Quadar: Do I believe that Mary was a virgin?
Jamey Cannedy: Uh-huh.
Quadar: Of course I believe that Mary was a virgin. She spoke it out of her mouth saying that she was a virgin. But we know that God was always with her whether it was Summer, Spring, Winter, or Fall. . . [unintelligible] We know that Mary was a virgin. Right there in Luke 1, uh . . . uh . . . Luke 1 from verse 26 to about 35.
Jamey Cannedy: Now, on the five pillars of the Islamic faith, can you give us a breakdown of those?
Quadar: Okay. The five pillars of Islamic faith are (1) There is no god but Allah, (2) Fasting, where we believe we should be fasting, (3) We believe that at least once in a lifetime we should go to Mecca, (4) Giving, not just what is in your pocket, but sharing the word of knowledge of faith to one another raising one up.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. I asked Raheem earlier (he had a personal testimony and how he became a Muslim), what were the factors that determined you to choose Islam?
Quadar: About me? See, I come from a family of atheists and raised up into a church (where I went to Sunday school and church with a bunch of Christians). And there were a lot of Christians [unintelligible] . . . We were left with a lot of questions unsolved, but as I got older I always studied the Bible. When I became involved with Islam, I used to go to the Muslim mosque and I was impressed on how they acted and how they carried themselves . . . uh . . . and how they didn't just observe Allah just one day out of a week, but was everyday (day and night). It was like when I began getting into myself I was more at peace. As far as understanding the Bible, I was taught how to believe how Islam was the true religion (is the true religion). As I read the Qur'an over and over again, it keeps me at peace. To me, that is religion.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. From what you said earlier, I guess works (actually the way you live and what you do) is [sic] a major part of Islam. How do you believe that works would further you in your religion?
Quadar: What, now?
Jamey Cannedy: What I got from your last message is that works is a big part of Islam. So, what role does works have in Islam?
Quadar: I think the role is deep in faith where you put all of your faith and trust in Allah. Sure there would be times when I would be tempted, you know, it's right there, you know. I feel we must continue our faith and trust in Allah. Like God says, he would not put a burden on us no more than what we can handle.(1)
We struggle to survive and stay on the path and put all our trust and faith in Allah.
Jamey Cannedy: Okay. In a few moments I am going to go to Shandon Guthrie and ask him a few basic questions on Christianity and if you all can hang on get into more cross-examinations between the two of you and myself. So, I'm going to go to Shandon now.
END NOTES
1. The passage Muhammad refers to uses the third person and is probably a citation of Luke 4:8.
2. This is possibly a reference to 1 Corinthians 10:13.