Is there a True Religion? - Dr. Bilal Philips

[Music] what about is there a true religion does it really matter what I believe as long as I sincerely believe it is there a problem if I am sincerely wrong are all religions the same most religions claim that they alone are correct and all others are false they cannot all be right since each claim that all the others are wrong how then as the seeker of truth choose the right way is there any way to identify the true religion Hey ladies and gentlemen salamualikum' Oh Angela I'll greet you peace and blessings it the mercy of God Almighty and we welcome each and every one of you of the game we thank you for coming to our program and that you have showed us your seriousness about our topic I'm very grateful that so many people have come and we can say it is the topic of the day and it's very different really what is the message of Islam compared to what you will see on CNN or some of the different programs today in the news my name is Ahmed cleaver I'm a volunteer for Qatar get center and with no more further ado I introduce you brother dr. bilal philips [Applause] I'd like to welcome everybody this evening by first praising God law and wishing his peace and blessings on all of the prophets the true prophets of God now the topic that we're looking at this evening though it is entitled the true religion of God I would like us to reflect on whether there is or could be a true religion of God because for most people in the world today this is a question in terms of belief in God most people do believe in God in spite of what we hear in terms of atheism and how atheism was spread whether in the capitalist element of the world or in the communist side recent polls and I have a poll with me from Reader's Digest where they did a survey in over 14 countries in Europe and there they found that really seven out of every ten Europeans believed in God not only that but in Poland which was among the communist countries they had the highest number of people who believed in God 97% of polls believe in God high on the list behind the polls surprisingly is Russia 87 percent Russia the home the birthplace of communism which denies God's existence which is carried on that atheist attitude is carried on today in China very strongly Russia has opened itself up and in opening itself up it is opened itself up to religion so the reality is that the majority of people believe in God even among scientists polls taken among scientists in the West show that the majority of those who are involved in the Natural Sciences astronomy geology these types of Sciences where you're actually looking at the creation the world the majority believe in God actually where we find this belief this is mostly in the area of those who are in what we may call the pseudo-sciences sociology psychiatry we're calling them Sciences but really it's a lot of ideas there's a little bit of science there and a lot of theories and concepts which are not necessarily based on the real world amongst the psychiatrists psychologists this belief in God is very high whereas as I said the those were involved in the Natural Sciences we find their belief in God is very high so having said that the issue is not really about is there a God the main issue is about whether God revealed his word to human beings is religion something concocted by human beings or is it something which God actually did reveal what we find when we look back at the poll again is that of those who believed in God just a little over a half of the Europeans believed that there was a life after death and about 43% said religion was necessary to distinguish between good and evil what's that saying it's saying that as we as we can commonly hear among people that the belief in God may be there but organized religion the belief in organized religion is very weak people generally don't believe in organized religion why because there's so many of them each one of them is saying well we're the true religion so with all of this all of these claims they couldn't all possibly be correct so it's probable that they're all part they're all wrong this is the easy conclusion of course there's another conclusion that one may be correct and all the others are wrong and today actually this is not considered to be politically correct for one to be holding up his religion or her religion and saying this is the correct religion what people prefer today generally is tolerance everybody says it's okay you have your beliefs I have my beliefs everybody has their beliefs it's all good but the reality is that if there is in fact one true religion then for that one religion to compromise and say well it's all okay you can believe whatever you want to believe that would be treacherous that would be false would so if there is one true religion then that one true religion has to say this is the true religion now if we go back to the creation of the world God created the world those who say there is no religion no real religion they say well God created the world and left it to run on its own people just have to find their own way actually if we stopped and looked at that thought for a minute one would have to say that that's not very reasonable in fact if we think about a God who would do that we'd have to say that that God wasn't very smart that's where we would end up because if God created this world and didn't inform the creatures of the world what they're supposed to do here how are they going to find their way imagine we set up a factory we put an advertisement in the newspaper for people to work in the factory and they come but we don't tell them what they're supposed to do in the factory they all come in we promise to pay them whatever they all come in and we let them do whatever they want to do in the factory what's going to happen with that we're going to have a successful factory know everyone who works in the factory has to have a drop job description he has to know or she has to know what is their job here if they don't know then the end result is chaos chaos that's on our scale our common sense would tell us that you need to tell people what they need to do in the factory and if we set up a company in which we didn't do that people would say what a foolish individual they was foolish he wasted his money so if we can accept that on our own scale imagine that on the scale of god this is what in fact we are saying if we're saying that God created this world and left it to run on its own without informing human beings what they're supposed to do here so common sense tells us that God must have informed his creatures what they're supposed to be doing here the very first people who were created Adam and Eve or whatever a religion may call those first people the point is from the time that God created the first human beings even if you said that his creation was by way of evolution and that's a whole nother discussion but God created human beings through evolution really she said that still you ended up with human beings God's creation those human beings the first human beings had to be instructed as to what they were to do in this world that makes sense so God revealed religion to the first of his creation now that religion of course being one God one world one set of human beings was one religion he didn't really reveal to those early human beings a variety of different religions no because that would again imply that God was the author of confusion he himself right from the get-go was creating confusion there's no clarity here so God revealed one religion one way the question is what is that one way and where is that one way today all of us are born in families not of our own choosing I was born in Jamaica my father was presbyterian my mother was a glycan I didn't choose to be born in Jamaica to parents of those faiths and everybody we can say is in the same situation nobody chooses where they're born whom they're born to so when we look at the issue of religion if we accept that there must be religion and there must be a true religion God did reveal religion religion meaning a way of life a set of instructions which would guide human beings through life if we accept that this is the case then we need to know what that religion is and to find that religion we have to be open-minded we can't find it and find the truth about it if we are going to come from the position that I am a whatever and I'm born that whatever and I'm going to die that whatever that's what my parents did that's what I'm doing no you know when we go into business we don't treat business like that when we are going to set up a business for ourselves we research we check out what people did before and we don't limit ourselves to what they did we take the good of what they did we reject what is not useful and we try to carve a correct way for ourselves we don't do it by way of uh you know custom we don't say you know I'll do this business this way because that's how it's customarily done well you might do that and your business may succeed to a certain degree but if you are not innovative if you're not looking for the best way then your business is not likely to succeed it's not likely to grow and to expand etc so we take business very seriously but when it comes to religion we tend to be relaxed no big deal maybe when I get old and gray I'll start thinking about religion seriously know who knows who gets old and gray we have this is not there's no certainty here we cannot state with certainty how old we live to religion is serious business of course those who say religion is a problem because it's a popular myth widespread in the world today that religion is the cause for all these Wars you know religions are always fighting each other and killing each other in all these kinds of things oh yes we did have the Crusades there was a religious war terrorism we had that but if we compare the numbers of people who died in the Crusades the various Crusades and that was you could call it basically a world war of religion compare that to World War one and World War two how many people died insignificant the major Wars the major loss of life today is not over religion at all world war one world war two were not fought over religion so this is the myth let's put that myth aside come back to what is the true religion how are we to find this religion that religion should have some characteristics if we said that there is a true religion then it should have some characteristics and it's back through those characteristics that we will know what in fact is the true religion what I will present to you now because the number of religions in the world are many and though I have studied a variety of many different religions comparative religious studies I've been involved in however to try to tackle it from the position of all religions today this evening it would be impossible so what I'm going to look at with you now is the characteristics of one particular religion that is the religion of Islam it claims that it is the true religion as Christianity claims as all of the religions virtually claim that they are the true religion no different in that respect and what we need to do is to look at the claims ok Islam makes a claim let's see what is the evidence for your claim and then we put it on the scale of humanity does this religion fill the slot or fill the criteria for a true religion the true religion of God or not this is the question which we need to ask for ourselves whatever religion were involved in look at the arguments look at some of the other religions look at what their arguments are and then come to a conclusion for ourselves don't depend on parents don't depend on society in the sense that simply because I was born here this is what I believe in no each and every one of us should make the choice ourselves so now if we look at the characteristics of the true religion and we start off with the name of the religion itself Islam Islam is unique in that it is not the name of a person it's not the name of a place or the name of a people it is the name representing the essence of the religion itself the essence being submission to the will of God that is the essence of Islam that's what Islam means submission to the will of God so what does that mean in practical terms that means then that Islam cannot be inherited because submission is a spiritual intellectual emotional choice you can't inherit that each and every one has to make the choice for themselves and the name of the religion is found in the scripture itself it is not something which people chose here is after they gave it a name somebody somewhere down the line said or let's call this religion Islam no in the scripture itself and again this is something unique when you go into the scripture as the other scriptures you'll find the names are not there these names were given by others later points in time but you'll find right there in the scripture the fifth chapter verse 3 this day I have perfected your religion for you addressing humankind completed my favor this is God speaking upon you and I have chosen for you Islam as your religion Islam meaning submission to the will of God submission this was the religion which was revealed to the first human being because if somebody were to ask well could the first human beings have been Christians but Christ wasn't around could they have been Buddhists well Buddha wasn't around and so on and so forth Islam doesn't depend on Muhammad may God's peace and blessings be upon him and upon all the prophets it doesn't depend on him it is the religion of God to humankind furthermore God States third chapter verse 85 if anyone desires a religion other than Islam it will never be accepted of him any other religion where people do not follow the commandments of God they are not submitting to the commandments of God it will not be acceptable to God no matter what they do no matter what charitable acts or or generous acts the they do that will not put them in good stead before God if they have not submitted themselves to God God's commands now if we go on past the issue of the name of the religion itself and we shift over to the relationship between God and His creation if we are commanded to submit our wills to God then it means that we should be worshipping God alone the religion the true religion should instruct human beings to worship God alone not to worship anyone else no other human being nothing in the creation because no one no thing can help us can benefit us besides God ultimately nothing will take place nothing will benefit if God's permission isn't there so the essence of will the relationship between human beings and God should be one of worship worshiping God alone and this is the essence of the teachings of Islam even in the case of Jesus in the Quran God says with regards to Jesus and behold Allah the Arabic name for God will say on the day of judgment oh Jesus son of Mary did you say to people worship me and my mother as gods besides a law and he will say glory to you I could never say what I had no right to no right to say that is submission aslam teaches that all of the prophets taught the same thing submission to God any human being who calls others to worship Him who claims that he is God or has God within him has deceived human-beings misguided them taken them away from the true religion of God so the essence of worship in Islam can be found in the first chapter known as the fatiha the opening chapter verse number 4 you alone do we worship and from you alone do we seek help that is the essence of the message worshipping God alone seeking help from him alone and as I said this is the message of all of the prophets God says in the Quran and your Lord says call on me and I will answer you God is the one who answers prayers yes people might say well when I worship so-and-so or this and that my prayers are answered this is part of the test of life people raise their hands all over the world and they pray to a variety of different things and some of their prayers are answered this is the part of the test of this life reality is that only God answers prayers regardless of what people pray to only God answers prayers so the essence of the message of all of the prophets all prophets were sent coated there in the scripture the Quran sixteenth chapter verse 36 assuredly I have sent among every people a prophet with the command worship allah and avoid false gods that was the message which all of the prophets brought to human beings worship God alone if we go back to the shared belief amongst two thirds or two fifths of humankind close to three fifths that the first human being Adam and Eve were in a garden and they were given one instruction each from all of the things of the tree in the garden except from one tree islam speaks of this this is the command of god don't eat from that tree obedience to God submission to God was what they were called to do and that's a mirror of life in general today that God has commanded us to do certain things and forbidden us from others what tends to happen today is that people have taken the forbidden things as being the source of fun and pleasure and they say that you religion especially Islam you make life so difficult a person can't enjoy himself or herself you can't do this you can't do that you can't do the other you can't eat this you can't drink that and all this you can't do this why well reality is that for every can't do there are thousands of can dues but what happened is that forces within our world have made the few can't do is the most precious the most beloved the things that we feel life is incomplete without these can't do we shouldn't be doing these have been promoted in the media and that's why when we look at religion especially at Islam it appears to be so restrictive but reality is that it is in fact really not restrictive at all it is protective so having looked at the essence of the message which is summarized in the declaration of faith la ilaha illallah there is no God worthy of worship but Allah from that as the Prophet said anyone who says there is no true God besides Allah and dies holding that belief will enter paradise that is the reward for those who have accepted that belief in their lives have lived according to that belief acceptance of the belief and living in accordance with the belief now if we look on the other side we talked about the true religion and it's some of its characteristics there are a few more and I will touch on them but before going on there is a message which false religion promotes which teaches and it is the opposite of what I spoke false religion basically calls human beings to worship God's creation instead of God the Creator isn't worshipped but his creation is worship instead of course the creation will be called the Creator through a variety of philosophical arguments it will be explained that yes it does look like you're worshipping creation but in fact you're worshiping the Creator but common sense if one just stops for a minute and looks at what's going on common sense tells us we are in fact worshiping God's creation and not God so that is the essence of false religion and this is why the quran addresses false religion in general saying the 12th chapter verse 40 that which you worship besides him besides God are only names and you and your forefathers have invented should be names that you and your forefathers have invented for which Allah has sent down no authority the command belongs only to Allah he has commanded that you worship Him that is the right religion but most men meaning human beings do not understand this is the challenge we've all been commanded to worship God alone as God says in the 51st chapter I've only created the jinn and human beings that they may worship me this is the purpose of creation human beings worshipping God worshiping God alone so we have to be aware of the message of false religion in general which calls us away from the worship of God to the worship ultimately of his creation if we go on further to other characteristics of that true religion that forgiveness salvation lies in the hands of the individual God will forgive sins and there is no need for any intermediary between ourselves and God since we're worshipping God alone then he can forgive our sins we can save ourselves by ourselves by turning to him in repentance there is only one unforgivable sin and that is to worship other than God verily Allah will not forgive the joining of partners with him but he may forgive sins less than that foams wherever he wishes that is the ultimate sin that is why when a person asks well someone saw was a good person he does good things he you know it's helpful to people and so on somebody doesn't believe in God isn't it still a good person why should he not get a good life in the life to come why do you say he is going to be punished he's going to suffer etcetera because the ultimate sin the ultimate evil is to worship other than God if our purpose of creation in the purpose of our creation is to worship God and we worship other than God then what have we done we have destroyed the very reason for our creation creation we have lost our way completely so that is why it is the ultimate sin but other than that and even if a person did this it doesn't mean that they cannot achieve salvation if a person worshiped other than God Allah in Arabic and found out and turn back to God in repentance then they can be forgiven there is no sin too great that God will not forgive regardless forgiveness salvation is in the hands of the individual not depending on a priest class you know certain intermediaries certain things or objects or people etc between ourselves and God who will give us God's grace will give us salvation no it is in our own hands now there is another issue by which Islam claims to be the true religion universality that true religion if it's the religion of God it should be universal meaning it should be applicable everywhere anywhere at anytime it shouldn't depend on knowing a particular individual or knowing a particular place etc no it should be universal and this is the essence the teaching that submission to God is the essence of the religion that means that whoever wherever they submit to God sincerely then God will accept that from them and this is why you find within the Quran itself again second chapter verse 62 verily those who believe among the Muslims and those who follow the Jewish faith the Christians and the Sabian's worship stars etc any of these who believe in Allah the one true God alone who deserves worship and the last day that they are accountable that they have to give an account for what they did in this life and work righteousness and they do good deeds not just say I believe but they actually live that belief they actually apply that belief in their lives they shall have their reward with their Lord they will not be overcome by fear or grief paradise will be theirs that is the promise that is the universal message so those who followed Moses who followed Jesus who followed all of the prophets who were sent to all nations throughout time those who sincerely followed them all of them are considered Muslims Muslim meaning one who submits his or her will to Islam is the submission Muslim is one who submits so this is the universality of the message it encompasses all now what of places what of places where people did not hear about the teachings of the prophets the Prophet himself had said whoever among the Christians and Jews hears of me but does not affirm his belief in what I brought and dies in this state will be amongst the inhabitants of hell any prophet who came who conveyed the message from God he was to be accepted and followed and whoever rejected him those who rejected Jesus those who rejected Moses those who rejected any of the prophets who were sent throughout the world whether to India or to China out to South America or the Philippines prophets were sent Prophet Muhammad had mentioned that there was more than 124,000 prophets sent throughout the world whoever did not accept the teachings of the Prophet then they sealed their fate with regard to the life to come but what of those people who didn't hear the message reality is that God has taught each and every one of us about himself we have it written in our souls in the seventh chapter verse 172 there is a discussion which God describes when he first created Adam he took from Adam all of Adam's descendants in the spiritual form meaning we all were created at the same time before we came into this world were already created and having taken all of Adam's descendants he said to these creatures all these human beings jinn am I not your Lord to which they all replied yes we testify to it yes we testify to it each and every one of us at the time of our original creation we were given knowledge of God it is in our souls imprinted within our souls and that's why you find that even the biggest atheist one who was denied God's existence throughout his life he's flying in that 747 he looks out the window he sees one of the engines fall off and the plane starts to go into that dive there is no way out the end what does he do does he say tough luck that's life no you will find him screaming oh god oh god oh god oh god screaming god's name even louder than the people who actually believe in God it comes from himself or herself instinctively it is imprinted in the soul of each and every one of us so what we find is that God made us bear witness so that we would not say on the day of judgment that we were unaware of God and belief in God nobody has an excuse nobody who is conscious adult here's a message has an excuse but one of those people who are not adult who died as children who lived in the North Pole they never heard the message they were what of these people they were old when the message came they were senile and it came into their area so they never heard it properly or it came to them in such a garbled form so distorted that there was no way for them to believe in it what are these people well the prophet mentioned that there would be for them a mini test at the time of resurrection when everybody is coming back to be judged by God that they would be brought back and a message would be given to them about God and instructions that they would have to follow those who follow the instructions will go on to paradise like those who follow the instructions in this life those who don't will go on to hell like those who rejected it in this life they will have a mini test which resolves their situation so no one will pass out of this world and come before God in judgment without the message having been given to them as God said in surah nisa raw of the night journey oh my econo-mode Robina at Tanabata a surah allah will not punish anyone until the message has been brought to them the message at the time of pre creation when we were told about God this was also so we couldn't blame our ancestors we couldn't say it's not our fault it's my parents my grandparents they were the ones worshipping idols worshipping others besides God so are you going to destroy us because of what they did no we all have choices each and every person who believes and practices a false religion God will show them in their lives what the truth is they will see it because each child when it is born into this world is born with a natural belief in God it is the parents who or the society or the evil forces which cause them to go astray but they are born with that natural belief which they inherited from the time of pre creation but as I said in each and every one of our lives there are signs God has put signs in each and every one of our lives whether it is bringing us here to Doha we lived in another country where we're not exposed to Islam the only thing we heard about Islam was terrorism suicide bombing that is all we heard bloodthirsty Arabs they love to slit people's necks and say Allah Akbar but when we came here we didn't find anybody's neck being slit nobody's blowing up anybody life is not so bad after all so our coming here that could be among the signs for ourselves we have been brought into a circumstance where we can find out for ourselves what is the truth of the claim of Islam we owe it to ourselves to check out to research to understand all of the elements of this claim as we owe it to ourselves to research our own religions whatever religion we belong to look at its claims where does it fit in as a universal religion of God for humankind so the signs of God are in each and every one of us or around each and every one of us as stated in the 41st chapter of the Quran I will show them my signs in the furthest regions of the earth looking at God's creation and in their souls in themselves until it becomes clear to them that this is the truth the signs of God are everywhere so in closing the scripture the scripture of Islam the Quran 1400 years has remained unchanged there are no versions yes amongst Muslims we have some core split off you hear about Shiites in Iran etc and the main body of Muslims they call Sunni but even when you go amongst the Shiites do they have another Quran no there's only one Quran no matter where you go in the world one Quran and this is a basic criteria for the religion of God but if God has revealed his word in the scripture specifically as a final scripture then it must remain pure unchanged untampered with that is criteria that we have to look at for ourselves laQuan and its message remains as fresh today as it was when it was revealed 1400 years ago scientists looking at the crime have pointed out in a number of verses pieces of information which could not possibly have been known by Muhammad may God's peace and blessings be upon him and upon all of the prophets information like the development of the embryo in the room this is described in the Quran described at the stage when it the embryo would be invisible to the human eye is described microscope necessary to see it what it looks like it's described so much so that dr. Keith Moore who wrote the book on embryology the most commonly used text in universities around the world in his main Edition which he wrote and which was reprinted many many times he stated that it really wasn't until the development of the microscope that people really got to understand what was going on there in the development of the human being the embryo then he mentioned a series of wild stories or ideas that people had of the past in terms of the development of the embryo and he said nobody knew until the development of the microscope in the 15 16th century whatever however when the Quranic verses were brought to him he was asked to attend conference and asked to study to go over certain verses from the Koran with regards to embryology he after reading it said that this is an accurate description which could not possibly have come from Muhammad may God's peace and blessings be upon him in the sixth century there is no way they asked him so where did it come from is that from God he was convinced it had to have come from God no human being could describe what was described there and he modified his text later on to mention that nobody knew what was going on except as was mentioned in the Quran amongst the Arabs or they those who followed Islam that is the book it contains that side scientific information which is only in modern times that people have come to understand things descriptions of the world in ways which people a thousand years ago ago could could not possibly have understood we have some booklets here which describe it Quran and modern science etc we'd like to read up more on it you may do so but the Quran is not a book of science it is fundamentally God's communication to human beings and this is where the ultimate beauty lies it addresses every need of human beings and it describes itself as being a cure for what is in the hearts we all owe it to ourselves to read that Quran the final evidence which I'm presenting to you this evening with regards to the true religion of God the claim as made by Islam each and every one of you I request that you take an honest and open look at that message challenge it question I'm not saying just look at it and become a Muslim etc know read it compare it but do so honestly and openly not with prejudices but with an open mind let me look at those claims let me see what I have let me see what other people have and make an honest and informed judgment so that is basically the ultimate message the message of Islam to each and every one of you a message which if you are convinced then we ask you not to hesitate I'm not saying don't read further but if what you've heard this evening is sufficient to convince you you've been reading already you've been asking questions and so on so and you're ready then I suggest to you don't hesitate before we leave the hall this evening please come forward and accept the ultimate truth with that I'll turn the floor over to you now for your questions as stipulated in the Quran itself where God Himself tells us that those of you who do not believe all my profits and all my religions that came before are not Muslims and and I would like to to point out that I think the description you gave of what Islam and a Muslim is as far as I'm concerned perfect one that's it really captures the idea let me just clarify one point though you know that you mentioned that it's mentioned in the Koran that God has called people to believe in all of the prophets of God that's true but then you mentioned all of the religions but no is not true because there is only one religion so there is no place in the Quran where God says believe in all the religions no God has said that the religion perfected for human beings is none other than Islam so as long as you put it in that context that well that was in fact the message of the prophets then we have one religion that's exactly what I meant there is and we'd like to give our non-muslim guests really the first opportunity you know because there are a number of Muslims here and I'm sure there's a lot of points or whatever you'd like to make but we'd like to give priority to our non-muslim guests good evening doctor just to ask you in your opinion is there a difference between spirituality and religion and what is if you would give more information of on Sufism within Islam thank you okay I would say that spirituality when you use the term spirituality you would really have to come into some definition because everybody has a different view as to what spirituality consists of religion if it is God's religion it will cover all facets of human existence it will address all human needs whether it is spiritual needs some people may put in a box over here and say well that's spirituality with it will also encompass economic needs to also encompass social needs it should come encompass all aspects because that universal religion should not separate and distinguish between religion and state statecraft you know we have politics we have another thing economics that we do then we have religion on the side which you know sue these are sold with sooth our souls with it but then we have to deal with the real world we have some other set of principles know the universal religion must address if it's from God all aspects of human being human existence so I would say that true religion will not be distinct from spirituality in the sense that true religion must contain spirituality if you're saying by spirituality meaning that it addresses the spiritual needs that a person devotes an element of his time or her time to feeding the soul as the body needs food the soul needs food I'm doctor just appreciate your general comment on apparently Qatar has one of the highest road fatality rates for the young men in the world and this comment may be a bit naive but often the catchcry is its Ella's way in terms of driving behavior that leads to such high death rates and just would appreciate any general comment or views about that in terms of high fatality rates obviously this has nothing to do with following Islamic teachings this is a product of a lot of wealth a lot of spare time lack of direction and unguided youth this combination produces anywhere in the world where you put that together you're going to get the same results so we don't say that is God's will it's a lot well that this happened yeah it's a laws will that people die and so laws will that people live human beings have invented seatbelts thank you they have invented you know speedometers which can tell how fast we're going the foot brakes on you know and they're a variety of other things that are there to make driving on the road safe God says if you drive the car then you should say subhanallah de Sahara and AHA de you know glory be to the one who has submitted this to me was provided this for me and I couldn't have done it myself if it weren't for God's will I would not be able to drive this car so I appreciate it as something a gift from God which I must use in a way which is pleasing to God not driving at 200 kilometers an hour because surely that's not pleasing to God at all you know it might be fun have the wind blowing through my here and you know all these other kinds of things but it's dangerous it kills people so for those who would justify and I even have you know some of my friends older friends that's just kids who will get in the car they don't wear their seatbelt you know probably seatbelt you know it's not necessary if you got to go you're going to go anyway right but and I used to do it at one point to then my kids asked me well um what's that seatbelt for a booyah means daddy what's the signal first of all it's supposed to you know protect you from from hurting yourself and you have accidently so why don't you wear it oh oh good point yeah from that point onwards I started wearing it you know that was just a little reminder of me I'd gotten lazy you know growing up in this part of the world or aging in this part of the world you know you can develop bad habits you know just from the people around everybody it's gets in the car no seatbelts you end up doing it yourself though back home you know back in Canada or us whatever you better put on that seatbelt otherwise you're gonna get a fine but since the countries here they were not finding anybody people got in this habit and I realize that no this is important one should do that in fact there was an occasion where the Prophet may God peace be upon him was in the mosque and an individual came in to sit and ask him some questions when he came inside he recalled oh he had left his camel outside without tying it up so he asked the Prophet should I trust in God or should I go tie my camel right because the camel if you don't tie him up he'll be out of here in a second so the Prophet said to him tie your camel and trust in God and that's the essential message where we have ways and means to protect ourselves to better our lives that's such a weak take these ways and means and at the same time after doing so we know ultimately it is God's will what will happen to us in the end so we have to put our trust in God after that mr. Pennell Phillips thank you for your nice true and sincere presentation you mentioned to terrorism as an accusation to Islam so I want to say that here ISM is not Islam at all it is an American product the state's financed those people who make this act with twenty million dollars in Afghanistan and their allied countries financed it also with 75 million dollars they incite a trade finance it and brass encourage these people and turn them to my dogs okay I think them now okay thank you terrorists who are killing people with the white phosphorus depleted uranium and who are killing who killed millions in Vietnam in Korea in Japan thanks okay thank you very much whether the issue of terrorism that we mentioned we said that this was a false image which has been put on Islam and of course Islam does not support terrorism in any way shape or form but at the same time we have to understand that in some cases one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter so we have to be able to distinguish between the two where people are struggling for legitimate causes in defense of their rights human rights that though this may be labeled in the media around the world is terrorism we have to understand the realities of it we don't necessarily justify because of the legitimacy of that struggle anything which people do because people in desperation can do all kinds of things so though those things may be illegitimate may be unacceptable at the same time we need to understand the roots what has led to this not just blame this one or blame that one but look at the root causes of these situations and then try to resolve it and to correct it by dealing with the fundamental issues not the general cosmetic solutions which are generally offered excuse me I wonder if you expand on your previous statement about how God's well it's imprinted on people's souls okay the point that we mentioned I don't know how much when you said expand on it or expand on it to what degree the basic issues have been mentioned that at the time of our creation we were given a consciousness of God when a person comes into this world he or she comes in with that natural consciousness when the true message comes to them they recognize that true message based on that consciousness the child left alone would find God in of himself or herself religion the true religion of God only provides the guidelines for that child but the essential belief the recognition and knowledge of God that is there and that is why the vast majority of people in the world believe in God as we said even in Russia where people for you know half a century were schooled on the denial of God's existence that's what they were schooled on yet once that sort of barrier the barriers were removed the restrictions were lifted then we found a huge upsurge in belief in God people returning back to trying to find the religion we have two questions here I'll answer one first what does Islam say about Jesus as was mentioned here islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet of God as Moses as Abraham as all of the prophets of God and that is what Jesus taught that is what his early followers believed and that's what they lived in accordance with however in time those beliefs were changed they became distorted and the message became one of worshipping Jesus as God instead of worshiping the God of Jesus for the question from our audience I'd like to ask you two questions if you in the first part maybe if you can compare the beginning of Christianity to the beginning beginning of Islam maybe the first hundred and 150 years to my understanding in the beginning of Christianity there was a lot of people committing their lives being martyrs dying without any retribution versus reminder sinning of Islam where there was a lot of wars a lot of infighting and why do you think that God had those two different approaches then my second question deals with a statement that you made earlier about people accepting Islam freely I'm not Muslim I have lived in Islamic countries for quite a while I know that if someone is a Muslim and even considers another religion there's problems on his life so I don't understand if you can accept a religion freely why can't you leave it freely okay the first question concerning the early years of Islam and Christianity this is historical details of which I'm I don't know if this is really the place to go into but it's enough to say that if we look at the early years at least the first 40 odd years after Jesus we're the church the main church in Jerusalem was headed by James who is referred to in the Gospels as the brother of Jesus James who headed some this also refer to as the first pope he what he believed in was the same as what islam teaches today that Jesus was a prophet of God and he worshiped God and that the religious instructions concerning that worship whether it was not eating pork and a variety of other you know religious instructions these were to be followed that is the early development but of unfortunately he was himself killed and the center of Christianity shifted when the Romans broke up the temple 70 AD and chased all of the Jews out of Jerusalem and along with them were what they call the Jewish Christians christians who externally if you saw them you would say they were Jews they were doing the same thing the Jews were doing but they accepted the message of Jesus that is the early development after that then the center shifted to Antioch where Paul who was in the process of changing the teachings took over so that is the early development in the first hundred years the change took place in the case of Islam in the first hundred years the basic teachings held firm they were not changed they were not distorted the basic book of Revelation was protected copied distributed and the religion became stronger as it spread within the first twenty five years from Arabia all the way to Spain up to Constantinople into Greece and to into a Persia etc it expanded with the center still intact basic teachings still intact so much so that if we compare what are the teachings of Islam today with the teachings that were taught 1400 years ago what you will find is that they are the same no change whereas if we can compare the teachings of Jesus and what was practice in that early phase to what is practiced today in Christian the difference is vast it is vast as to the infighting that you spoke of I you need to be more specific when you speak of infighting where it was I mean there was there were struggles which took place within the Arabian Peninsula but in general the state held together and expanded Egypt North Africa Lebanon Syria these areas came into Islam within those first hundred years and people chose Islam they were not forced into Islam the other question that you raised issue about where a person may think of becoming a nun non-muslims a Muslim chooses to follow some other religion well basically yes family will be upset people society around them will raise issues but that's normal in any society that's normal in any society any society which has a strong family setup where this is where the family is broken down where it's limited now to man wife and a couple of kids one and a half in some places then you can do basically what you want to do you know your thing is your thing you can believe what you want to believe and nobody really cares where the family is strong where there's the extended family then anybody who goes against the norm of that group is pressured is feeling uncomfortable you know they'll make life uncomfortable for them for them that's the norm now yes if you if you said here in Qatar if somebody was to choose other than Islam what would happen to them nothing they could choose to become non-muslims I've heard of some cases of Qatar is who have become non-muslims stop and if you ask me about the Islamic state what would happen that's a whole nother issue that perhaps we can discuss I don't know the point good evening doctor I have a question is there is a the title of this program is the truly the true religion of God and what I found this message was focused on the true religion so I would like to ask what is the difference between the true religion means I mean our following the true religion and the trust in God and the trust yeah in God trust in Allah I mean just by following this true true religion is that mean the trust in God well your question is a little vague I'm not quite clear on what you're asking but let's say that trust in God is an essential part of the true religion that if one is to believe that there is one God who created and controls everything to not trust in that God would be a failure of belief with regards to the village in itself so trusting in God no matter what one does that's what we spoke about earlier about wearing seat belts etc that we're supposed to do whatever is useful and beneficial for ourselves but in the end we do have to put our trust in God because nothing will take place without his permission and whatever it does take place by his permission we have to believe that ultimately it is for good even if we can't see the obvious good in it you know that's a part of the trust that we believe that whatever happens in our lives because God is good whatever happens in our lives is for good it wishes good the question is how do we utilize that which has happened usually becomes problematic when we deal with calamities how do we utilize those opportunities or those circumstances to benefit ourselves and to grow spiritually through the various trials of life good evening doctor I want to ask a question that Muslim is the person who has the submission of God so the person whom we call Muslim he is totally submitted on the wish of God but we see that some Muslim so anger the Dominator this means the weaker one so now on the criteria a person who goes through prayer namaz five times its jacket goes to hers so can he be called a Muslim if he dominates other Souls anger okay if we look at the issue of sin a person says he or she believes and does try to do good does try to be a true believer but falls into error they do some things which are forbidden Haram not allowed sinful does that act negate their faith when Adam and Eve ate from the tree did that make them non-believers no it was only a point of weakness that was that's the nature of human beings that they are weak and they will commit errors but the key is that when they commit the errors they don't continue in those areas that instead they turn back to God and seek God's forgiveness and that is the essence of the message there with regards to Adam and Eve not that human beings are sinful by Nature no Adam and Eve were not sinful by Nature they committed sin out of weakness but as it's mentioned in the Quran they turn back to God asking forgiveness and God forgave them as a result that sin was lifted from them as the Prophet had said may God peace must be upon him and upon all the prophets one who repents from sin is like one without sin so when a person commits a sin a person dominates others as you mentioned or whatever this does not make them a disbeliever it's an error and it's the nature of human beings to her as the Prophet also said all of Adam's descendants constantly commit errors but the best of those who do so are those who constantly turn back to God in repentance so that's really the crux of the matter will we repent correct ourselves and try to do what's right or will we stay in the sin continue in the sin and go further and further away from God a written question here if a child is born and stays for one hour the father and mother are not Muslims then what will be the result of that child the child dies I assume the question is as we said that child is like those people who the message did not reach the child will be brought back in an adult form and given a test at the end of this world like those people were deaf dumb and blind those people were or in places where the message did not reach them at the time of Resurrection they will be brought back and tested at that point by God those who pass the test will go on to paradise like those who have passed the test in this life who lived out for lives this is one question written here what is the definition of God God from the Muslim perspective is the object of worship and the Quran it says have you not seen the one who takes his desires as his God so even desires can become your God if that is what you follow that is what you will submit yourself to whatever your desires tell you to do that's what you do then that has become your God the Prophet had said that the worshipper of the deer ham and the DNR will be wretched so a person can make his God money that's what he's focused on that's the most important thing in his life that's all he ever talks about or she ever talks about whenever you sit with them that's all I can talk about that becomes their God worship is not just who you call on but who takes the central position in your life who guides you whose guidance you follow who you focus on in your life this is why Muslims are prescribed to pray five times a day to organize their day around the remembrance of God as the Quran states Allah be dhikrullah he taught my Anelka Lube it is only with the remembrance of God that hearts find rest and at the same time God says in the Quran al Khaimah Salah a decree established the prayer the five times daily we're to remember me so the prayer is to remember God to make that the framework of our lives and the benefit of remembering God is that ultimately that's where the hearts find rest and that's what we ultimately seek peace tranquility as a good evening doctor I like to ask about abortion it's made to believe by one Shaykh I came across that Islam allows abortion to a certain extent whereby when the process is windy in the early stages when the I mean the fetus has not been given the rock Islam allows abortion at that stage is that true because among very totally against abortion well in the case of abortion fundamentally is forbidden it is not allowable with only few exceptions and usually the main exceptions have to do with life-threatening situations for the mother if there's an ectopic pregnancy where the child develops it's going to cause the death of the mother then yes aborting to save the life of the mother is permissible but taking life taking a life in Islam is prohibited even animals the Prophet may God's peace and blessings be upon him had instructed the followers not to make birds their targets to kill birds for example for fun for sport the idea of taking the life of that animal without just cause this is something sinful in Islam so if it is not permissible for us to do that for the animal kingdom then surely for human beings it becomes even more or less permissible more forbidden so I would just say that abortion as a general rule is prohibited in Islam and only where there are life-threatening situations for those who are ready living that precedence is given to the life of those who are living over the life of those who may come to live Salaam alaikum doctor waalaikumsalam this question is addressed to non-muslims around my question goes this way what must be the reward of those non-muslims who have reached the final decision to adopt his Lama mean will he be considered newly born in this world well the Prophet had said that one who accepts Islam is purified of all their previous sins that Islam cancels whatever came before so it's like a rebirth when a person chooses to accept Islam it is a form of repentance from whatever was done before of course where it involves you know if we have property of others who have taken illegally then we can't just say ok I became Muslim I'm forgiven now I can keep this in carry-on no these things have to be returned but other than that where people's rights are involved we're just we've done things which weren't right etc then we are forgiven all of those so it's a rebirth for that individual dr. Philips thank you very much for your lecture I have a question regarding the obstacles that human beings usually in faces in order to accept the message of God be that the person is a Muslim or even or non-muslim among the Muslim who are born Muslim Muslim family when they grow up reach don't put usually they have to make the decision order to continue to be a better Muslim to believe more in Allah and find their way or stay the way they are and sure we know so the obstacle some people find it that didn't want accept Islam because that's mean their forefathers are not there they are in hell you know and some other reasons like for the young Muslim maybe to be a better Muslim he might heart for him because he had to stop practice some of the evil things or the wrong things in Islam so I'd like you to mention what makes it easy or easier for the person to go ahead and accept the true faith the message of God thank you very much I would just say that if a person recognized that Islam is the truth it is the true religion of God then that person needs to put aside all of the other obstacles that are there because in the end whatever they think is a problem that can disappear anytime but the real problem is for one to leave this life having not found and accepted the true religion that is the grave danger so we would advise anyone who has reached that point of grasping what the true religion is if they have accepted the idea that it is Islam then we encourage them not to hesitate but to come forward and to make their declaration of faith because we don't know what is to come when we leave this hall or tomorrow or next day etc the other issue concerning young people in Islam to a large degree the ignorance of young people today we have to blame on their parents because ignorant children generally speaking come from ignorant parents it's easy for the parents to say well look at this child is just disobedient and it's not and the other blame it on the child but really when we look at the root of the problem we find that it lies in the lap of the parents so I would my advice is that those of us who are parents here we have to give our children the priority give our children the time and the care to be raised properly understanding Islam not just imitating and doing what we do when we do it but understanding taking Islam to heart living Islam so that when they reach those teenage years yes they may shake a little bit but they have a clarity of understanding which will get them through and keep them on the right path Salaam alaikum question I've met Muslims who said that it's Haram to shake hands with a non-muslim and it's not permissible to say Salaam alaikum or wa alaikum Salam back to a non-muslim who says Salam alaikum to a Muslim shaking hands like they say okay I'm a Muslim and a non-muslim woman comes up to me and says Salaam alaikum and some people say some Muslims say that is not allowed for me to say while they come Salam back to the woman because she is not a Muslim well they say it's Haram some people do well let's first start with the shaking hands part there's nothing about in Islam it says you can't shake the hand of another woman woman as a woman right shaking hands of men okay Islam does have principles here men the hands of men women shake the hands of women men may shake the hands of women who are their close relatives who they couldn't marry and this is just to prevent any possible you know trips that people's minds can go on etc just this is for protection really and ultimately for the woman so let's put aside the shaking hands now the issue of returning greetings as a general priests principle we're told in the Quran to return the greetings with a better greeting so that's the general principle in Islam with regards to people's greetings if a person says I mean there's a general instruction which the Prophet gave in his own time may God's peace and mercy be upon him where some elements in the society were playing with the word Salam alaykom right assalamualaikum and instead of saying as-salaam alaikum they were saying asam alaikum right now if it said quickly you can't hear the difference between the two asam alaikum means you know may you be poisoned as-salaam alaikum means may peace be upon you right big difference between the two so in that case the Prophet instructed that if a non-muslim said to a Muslim what sounded like Salam alaikum as-salaam alaikum they should respond they didn't said he didn't say no don't respond he said respond with walaikum and also on you so if what you said was peace be on you then peace be on you too if what you said was may you be poisoned or may you be poisoned to Slocombe doctor they say welcome Sarah I have this one basic conclusion regarding this teaching they say what is when Alberti Allah created Adam and he was put in ideal place the Jenna but and with one provision only nor touch don't go to dead three and he could not control himself and went to eat that fruit of dead tree so and on the punishment he was sent to the earth so how this human he was very selected been Prophet he cannot follow only one instruction all the Muslims or the mankind can follow this lot of provisions and instructions in this world your question then is if Adam couldn't follow one instruction how then can the rest of humankind be required to follow so many instructions this is the essence of your question how does God expect human beings with so many temptations to follow the many instructions when Adam was not able to follow even one instruction in an ideal circumstance whereas our circumstance is not ideal well as I mentioned to you that was one phase of adam's life he came to earth and there were other tests that he had to face most of them he passed and some of them he felt because he was a human being the issue of the garden and the single tree this is only a sample of what each and every individual is faced with so whether it was one tree or it is many things the test is still the same if one has submitted his will to God committed himself or herself then whether he has to avoid one thing or two things or ten things it's still the same struggle it's still the same effort that he has to make if he can do it for one he can do it for two again 50 can fail for one it can fail for two so God did not put us in a circumstance that we couldn't handle as a stated in the Quran that no soul is burdened beyond its capacity so human beings in this world are given like the garden many trees which are permissible to them and the few things which are prohibited I like that one tree the prohibited things are very few and the reality is that these prohibited things are harmful things but we can ask ourselves look at the child the child who you tell don't do this or don't do that you're telling them don't do this or don't do that because these things are harmful to them yet when you tell them don't do it they want to try to do it this is the nature but when the child gets mature and comes to understand that in doing this there is harm then that gives the child the knowledge to be able to restrain himself or herself from doing those things and that struggle that internal struggle to overcome one's desire and to obey God's command is a universal struggle which every believer faces whether it is Adam in Paradise as well as Adam on the earth or it is any human being up until the last human being in this world it's the same struggle what about Christianity is it the true religion of God - okay if we say by Christianity we mean the teachings of Jesus and the way of Jesus him being the way the truth and the life as all the prophets represented the way to God their teachings was the truth and from that truth eternal life in Paradise is the consequence then yes the religion which Jesus taught which those who followed him in truth was the true religion it is the same as Islam it is in fact Islam but if we say by Christianity we mean Pollyanna T Paul being the real founder of what is now called Christianity then we have another story we would have to say that what Paul propagated what Christianity has become today is not the religion which Jesus taught he taught the true religion as all the prophets taught the true religion but human beings strayed they strayed in the past they strayed in the present and they will stray in the future all those who rejected Jesus when he came as a messenger of God to them all those Jews who heard the message he gave it to them and they rejected him even though yes they still maintained prayers and fasting and the laws etc their refusal to follow the messenger Jesus when he came may God's peace and blessing be upon him that caused them to shift from the true religion to now the false religion and anyone who does that with regards to any of the prophets falls by the wayside and has lost their way with regards to the true religion can we give a non-muslim the last question please it's just an extra comment what you said muslin non-muslim if they won't understand Islam to read Quran what is helping me is to read it once by not thinking Allah Allah Allah because like being from America Allah means the God of the terrorists I read it as Lord God Lord God I translated just like the rest of the Quran and it really helps so I thought maybe my other colleagues could use it okay where people may be reading the Quran and Allah has wrong meaning in their mind that if they just focus on the fact that Allah is just the Arabic name for God and if it's easier for them to visualize it by just going back to God then to remove the false or propaganda that is affecting them then this is her suggestion the other way though is for us to come to the reality of Allah because if you saw the passion of the christ' right the Passion of Christ where Jesus or the representative of Jesus was made to speak in Aramaic in the language of Jesus Aramaic you find that he used to he refer to God he called God ilaha that was the term that Jesus used he never used the term Jehovah that some people get off into Jehovah or Yahweh or God he used Allah ha so hey if we get back to the roots really what Jesus was saying we shouldn't have any problem with Allah I think that was our last question one more question from our non-muslim King below I would like to ask you one question that today I came here and I understood that the true religion of God and what I found is in this region of God we have to do the good and well for the others and there is a more if as you told that people those who devote to God they are Carlo Muslim yeah that's true as for you and God will forgive every since so if it is true that if a for the Muslim those who come to under God if if they comes if God forgives sins then why the people are being killed in the name of this God I mean to say that if they do some mistake if they commit any crime why they are being punished and there is a punishment for the death penalty and that I found in most of those country who are ruled by the Muslim governments why this happens does I want to be clarified okay I will try to simplify that question our guest here was asking if God forgives all sins a person who sincerely turns back and repents to God then why punish him why have laws to execute the murderer etc you know why not since God forgives him why don't we also forgive him that's quite a logical question but the point is that the forgiveness of God for sin is between the individual and God so a person may commit murder and he or she may be executed but they had turned back to God sincerely in repentance and God forgave them that's between them and God but between human beings and other members of the society if there is no punishment for crimes then what we have is chaos we have chaos if we have to the law of the jungle right this the the fittest survive if you're big and strong you can do whatever you want the weak people are crushed so we have laws to keep people in check so the law of executing the murderer that is to discourage on one hand people from committing murder because you will stop and think a little bit well if I commit murder they're gonna take my life well maybe I don't really want to do it that's pretty angry right now but hey when I think about losing my life No so it makes people think also it is punishment for that crime a person has committed a crime against the society as God mentions in the Koran if a person takes another person's life unjustly it is as if they have taken the life of all of humankind because it it is an assault on the society no one has the right to take another person's life so therefore if a person does it without justification then the law states that their life will be taken also as punishment for the crime that they have committed with regards to forgiveness and salvation God will forgive them if they're sincere but what is going on between them and God we as human beings we don't know we cannot judge what is in that person's heart he could say yes I have turned back to God and I sincerely have repented and everything but it's just the lie we don't know what's going on in his heart so we say leave the things between him and God between him and God but between human beings we have certain laws to protect the society from the harm of crime so that's why the laws are there to protect the society is that understood that's why we have the combination of both forgiveness of God and implementation of criminal law I think that was our last question sort of shake that is one more question from a non-muslim guest okay uh I have a Bible from my grandma she gave me in the early in the 50s King James I have one too okay and I just wondered if in that King King James is required reading you know for Christianity but for Islam what parts of the King James Bible is okay to read and what parts is not okay to read from your perspective because you said Paul did not convey the teachings of Christianity correctly so there must be parts of the Bible that are incorrect which you know what parts those are that's my question okay the question with regards to earlier scriptures in the Quran it states clearly that those who believe in a law in the one God submitted themselves to that one God and has accepted all of the prophets of God they must also accept all of the scriptures which the prophets brought so reading in the Bible scriptures which were brought by earlier prophets is okay however because of that element of corruption which has taken place over time then we have as a believer to weigh the text that we read for example the Quran speaks about the prophets and describes them in glowing terms examples for humankind God chose a prophet whether it's David Abraham Moses as an example of the way God wanted people to live their lives the best example for those people so they were as described in the Quran righteous individuals pure guides for human beings so when we read in the Old Testament that prophet locks for example was made to drink and become drunk and commits incest with his daughters and they bear a child by him we say this cannot be the true scripture this is Distortion this is fabrication this is interpolation that would not make a lot an example where we read that Solomon in his old age worships idols Solomon the prophet of God to receive revelation calling people to worship one God in his old age started to worship a whole bunch of idols we say no there is distortion here change when we read that David is all Old Testament David falls in love with a man's wife and sends the man to the front lines of the battle to die so he can commit adultery with his wife we say ah this is not the prophet of God this is these are lies which have been fabricated against the prophets of God but where we hear read here or Israel the Lord your God is one God he alone shall you worship we say that's the truth that's the truth so we can weigh what is correct from the Bible by understanding the Quran it is the pure scripture which has not been distorted or changed so it is a valid yardstick to judge what is acceptable and authentic and reliable from the Bible and what is not okay that's it okay I'm okay before we close again we had mentioned here if there's anybody in the audience who is convinced that the message which has been conveyed this evening is the truth and they want to be become a Muslim just please put up your hand and we'll have somebody come and take your name and make arrangements for you to accept Islam formally is there anybody in the audience who has come to visit with us who is ready to make that choice that decision please don't feel shy we don't mean to put you on the spot okay we hope that you make the right decision before it's too late with that we have our brother we'll close the session please come forth thank you it was a pleasure and I hope to see you again in future talks slap slam alaikum wa rahmatullah wa lillahi rabbil alameen wa sallahu wa sallam ala rasulillah I have the placentas cough delivering a what of thanks to this great gathering here I am deeply thankful to Allah subhana Allah the one and onl only Almighty God to make us a part of this important occasion and for making this seminar a success him gorilla I trust that we all had a thought awakening evening and that we will leave this occasion fully aware of the responsibilities that personas in searching finding and accepting the ultimate truth from the God Almighty first of all my very thanks to dr. bilal philips for kindly exceeding to give us a lecture and a presentation on the most relevant subject the true religion of god indeed he has made clear the subject and it is appreciated tha Jason Lou Herrin my dear vulnerable guests ladies and gentlemen each one of you deserve a special word of great for attending tonight similar and an active interactive session for making it memorable thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule to be here with us tonight I'm sure the seminar will help crystallize your thought process on the subject and now it is up to each one of us to select or deny the truth to win or lose the ultimate success in this life and the most important eternal life of hereafter maybe use this open opportunity to convey our gratitude to the sponsors of this program and we pray Allah the most beneficent to accept this Sadaqat interior from them and give them rewards I also want to give special word of thanks to my brothers in Katherine Denise llahi Center and Cather gas center for putting their maximum effort and prayers to bring the program a great success may allah reward as ol+ but of course not least our sincerest thanks to our sister organizations like marcus Venetta mia sri lankan modulus filipino brothers and Sheraton hotel especially mr. harlot the Hamad and printing press mr. Anwar and all those brothers and sisters worked behind the curtain may Allah accept this from us and reward us once again thank you all and we look forward to your continued interest in Islam as we understood that conveying this message of truth is compulsory on us thank you very much and thank you all Salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahu Barakat [Music] [Music] [Music] Ujala convinced it was enlightened by the word islam which was discussed with the speaker that it is a pro religion yeah and i realized that the really islam is a true religion because in truth i am i am christian by faith and i read Bible in our books that i recall from the box of genesis according to the box of genesis that all those people all those profits before submitted to god like abraham isaac david and solomon dissipated to God and I realized that this Islam belief is a true religion and I was also satisfied with the explanation of the speaker which is dr. de lisle Philip and he is a very good speaker he clearly explained about the box of quran that's all or they'd like to thank the organizers of this event for having this event tonight it was an excellent event it was enlightening it was fun gave me the opportunity to hear what people thought about Islam and also to reflect about Islam I being a convert to Islam nine years ago was in the same place that some of the people who are attended here tonight are in I had to think and make these same decisions that some of these those people who attended tonight have to think and make a make decisions on I think that the questions that they they voiced in the I think some of them were very precise and I was really encouraged about those people who mentioned who gave naseeha about reading the Quran about what they thought about Allah and about asking questions on even about the Bible as to which parts of the Bible are permissible to read or in which parts to the Muslims agree are acceptable these showed that a lot of the people who are attending the lecture tonight had a lot of thought that they were actually thinking that they were investigating that they were searching and things like this I was glad to have the opportunity to to be here to hear that and also to make acquaintance with some of them to shake hands with some of them and to change names phone numbers information and to continue inshallah and just living our lives as human brothers and and sisters and guides to Islam which is they know the true religion of God hamdullah was very good presentation and dr. Patel gave brief about Islam and it was very good handle and I get I got benefit from this lecture how to call a nanny if some question raised to me from non Muslim I can answer this question and handala is what I can say I attended the dr. bilal philips program this evening and I found it really to be very useful indeed a number of grand Muslims attended as well as Muslims and what I very much liked about the program this evening is that it really addressed people's concerns about Islam's or lack of familiarity with Islam in a very logical manner it also took the audience step by step to show them how is it that Islam is indeed the true religion it also explained that Islam recognizes all of the prophets that came before prophet muhammad sallallahu Salam may God's peace and blessings be upon him and peace and blessings be upon them as well and how is it that the Muslims are also asked to believe not only in Prophet Muhammad's message but also in all of the messages and scriptures that the previous message that the previous messengers came up with it explained that the problem is that the previous scriptures got subject to a lot of distortion and this is why how do you judge which parts of the previous scriptures that some of it exists today is true or not we use the Koran as the art stick to see how much of those scriptures that are left in people's hands today are the two teachings of these prophets or not I believe that the program was very useful indeed and it demonstrates the greatness of Islam and that Islam is indeed the true religion are you among those people today who are honestly seeking truth about the true religion of God if you are not you should be as our spiritual existence is far more important ultimately than our physical existence there are hundreds of religions in the world today and no one is born in the religion of his or her own choosing every religion or philosophy claims to be right and in most cases the only true path to God obviously these claims cannot all be simultaneously true since they contradict each other God has given everyone a mind and an intellect to seek the truth and to make the crucial decision of choosing the right path it is a fact should always be kept in mind that one can only determine the true path by putting aside emotions and prejudices which often blind us to reality

Channel: Digital Mimbar

Views: 78,493

Rating: 4.715517 out of 5

Keywords: bilal, philips, true, religion, islam, god, allah, quran, muhammad, mohamed, atheist, theist, religious, religions, faith, belief, heaven, hell, paradise, prophet, prophets, messengers, bible, holy, books, truth, african, best, biggest, buddhism, buddhist, catholic, christian, christianity, church, hindu, hinduism, judaism, muslim, philosophy, popular, clothing, founder, history, music, practices, symbols, religon, rituals, sacred, sikhism, spirituality, traditional, traditions, world, worship

Id: iZfpgKCHkOs

Length: 127min 20sec (7640 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 20 2010