A watershed moment for China: Islam or Christianity?

By Zia H Shah MD

Like it or not, but Islam and Christianity have been two missionary religions, which have been struggling to win the hearts and minds of humanity for centuries and they are not going to change their character, just because some agnostics or atheists do not like it. As a Muslim, belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, I believe that the Holy Prophet Muhammad and his follower, the Messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani, came to unite all religions and mankind by emphasizing religious freedom for everyone and the fact that the founders of all other religions, Confucius, Buddha, Tao, Krishna, Ram, Moses and Jesus were prophets of God. Islam gives a unifying paradigm and recognizes the spiritual experience of all people over the millennia, whereas, Christianity always demonstrates an obsession with Jesus and in this age of information wants to pull us back two thousand years ago to a society, when heroes were elevated to be gods. We have two other man-gods from Jesus’ time, Emperor Augustus and Apollonius of Tyana. If we are to believe in human gods we may as well believe in millions of Hindu gods. After all why should the Christian stories be more acceptable than the Hindu myths, except that the Western civilization gave us our present day science and technology. On an side note, it would be relevant to add here that the Western civilization did extensively borrow from the Chinese and the Islamic Heritage.

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Islam is not new to China. Emperor Hongwu (1328 – 1398) was the founder of the Ming dynasty and ordered construction of several mosques in Nanjing, Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian and had inscriptions praising the Prophet Muhammad placed in mosques. He rebuilt the Jinjue Mosque in Nanjing. He also wrote a 100 word praise on Islam, Allah and the prophet Muhammad. He had around 10 Muslim generals in his military, including Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu, Ding Dexing, Mu Ying, Feng Sheng and Hu Dahai. In addition, Hongwu’s spouse, Empress Ma, was a Muslim. Hui scholars like Yusuf Haji Chang have claimed the Emperor was a Muslim himself as well, due to his intimate relations with Muslims. Zheng He (1371–1433) the greatest Chinese Admiral was also a Muslim. His voyages and immigrants of Chinese descendant played a major role in converting Indonesians to Islam. Several sources note that some of the members of the Wali Songo (the nine revered saints of Islam in Indonesia, especially in Java, because of their historic role in the spread of Islam in Indonesia) had Chinese blood in them.

It may not be easily visible to most Chinese, but Islam and Christianity are vying to become the paradigm, for the human civilization in our global village. Muslims have always believed in sharing the democratic values of Islam and Universal Brotherhood with all humans and here I will offer only two proofs of the Christian missionary zeal. Firstly, is a book by Pope Benedict XVI, Without Roots: The West, Relativism, Christianity, Islam? Secondly, it is a fact that the Christian mission is very active in China, in its own way, if you have been following news in the Muslim Times.

Read on and in the words of Sir Francis Bacon, “Read not to contradict … but to weigh and consider.” Christianity not only wants to believe in more than one god, in the person of Jesus and the Holy Ghost, reminding us of medieval times of the first century Roman Empire, when 90% of the population was pagan, but, also wants to propose that Jesus died for our sins and is the only means to true salvation. Whereas, Buddha, Confucius and Tao who preceded him by centuries, never heard about him and did not preach vicarious atonement. To illustrate the fallacy of Christian atonement, let me quote from the writing of perhaps the greatest intellectual of the eighteenth century in USA and one of the Founding Fathers of my beloved USA, Thomas Paine, as he hit the nail squarely on the head, in his legendary book the Age of Reason:

From the time I was capable of conceiving an idea, and acting upon it by reflection, I either doubted the truth of the Christian system, or thought it to be a strange affair; I scarcely knew which it was: but I well remember, when about seven or eight years of age, hearing a sermon read by a relation of mine, who was a great devotee of the church, upon the subject of what is called Redemption by the death of the Son of God. After the sermon was ended, I went into the garden, and as I was going down the garden steps (for I perfectly recollect the spot) I revolted at the recollection of what I had heard, and thought to myself that it was making God Almighty act like a passionate man, that killed his son, when he could not revenge himself any other way; and as I was sure a man would be hanged that did such a thing, I could not see for what purpose they preached such sermons. This was not one of those kind of thoughts that had anything in it of childish levity; it was to me a serious reflection, arising from the idea I had that God was too good to do such an action, and also too almighty to be under any necessity of doing it. I believe in the same manner to this moment; and I moreover believe, that any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be a true system.[1][2]

This is certainly age of reason and the Chinese are too smart to fall for the unreasonable. Paine in a short paragraph has powerfully shown us what is fundamentally wrong with the Christian dogma. But, Christianity is a collection of paradoxes, which is how she confuses and entangles the naive and uninformed. Christianity not only believes that Jesus died for us, but, also believes in salvation through our acts of compassion and kindness and this is how she keeps the naive confused. Let me quote from the Gospel of Matthew:

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ (Matthew 25:34-45)

First of all this detailed parable or metaphor illustrates that our works count and the Christian emphasis ‘on Faith alone,’ in Protestantism more than in Catholicism is one more paradox that needs to be replaced with the Confucius, Buddhist, Tao and Islamic teaching that human actions do count!

There are numerous verses in the Holy Quran emphasizing kindness and the teaching of being service minded and the teachings are illustrated with different metaphors. Here I would like to reproduce a Hadith, a saying of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, which is very similar to the presentation of the Gospel of Matthew:

Indeed, Allah will say to his servant when He will be taking account of him on the Day of Judgment, ‘O’ son of Adam, I was hungry and you did not feed me.’ He will answer: ‘How could I feed you? You are the Lord of the worlds!’ He will say: ‘Did you not know that my servant so and so who is the son of so and so felt hunger, and you did not feed him. Alas, had you fed him you would have found that (i.e. reward) with Me.’ ‘O’ son of Adam, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink.’ He will reply: ‘How could I give You drink? You are the Lord of the worlds!’ He will say: ‘Did you not know that my servant so and so, the son of so and so was thirsty and you did not give him drink. Alas, if you had given him, you would have found that (i.e. reward) with me.’ ‘O’ son of Adam, I became sick and you did not visit Me.’ He will answer: ‘How could I visit You? You are the Lord of the worlds!’ He will say: ‘Did you not know that my servant so and so, the son of so and so became sick and you did not visit him. Alas, had you visited him, you would have found Me with him.’

Now, the moral teaching of compassion is exactly the same but if we read the next verse in the Gospel of Matthew another theological difference between Christianity and Islam pops up. Matthew reads, “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46) Here, the New Testament is suggesting the standard Christian version of eternal punishment for the finite crimes of the wicked and those who do not believe that Jesus died for them. Infinite punishment for finite crimes does not reflect well on the Just God and the Holy Quran takes exception to this vulnerability of Christian theology. There is also a Hadith that says that there will come a time on hell when it will have no inhabitants and all the sinners would have been forgiven after fulfilling their term. The Holy Quran recognizes good faith efforts of all humans:

Surely, the Believers, and the Jews, and the Christians and the Sabians — whichever party from among these truly believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds — shall have their reward with their Lord, and no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve. (Al Quran 2:63) And: Surely, those who have believed, and the Jews, and the Sabians, and the Christians — whoso believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good deeds, on them shall come no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Al Quran 5:70)

Christian missionaries use logic and reason, only for bait and switch, because their real emphasis is on ‘faith’ only and their biggest tools are not rational dialogue and debate but propaganda and advertisement. If you do not believe me, hear from one of the leading Christian apologists of his time. Soren Kierkgaard.

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard

He confessed, the quagmire between Christianity and rationality, in no uncertain terms:

It is not the business of any Christian writer or preacher to dilute Christianity to suit the general educated public. The doctrine of the incarnation was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, and so will it always be, for the doctrine not only transcends reason; it the paradox par excellence; and it can be affirmed only by faith, with passionate inwardness and interest. The substitution of reason for faith means the death of Christianity.

Epilogue

Chinese will soon realize that the tools to promote Christianity among the Chinese masses will not be logic, reason, dialogue, rationality or science. The real and the main weapon will be advertisement! What do I mean? The Christian apologists will be advertising, consciously or unconsciously, Santa Claus, Christmas, Good Friday, Easter and humanitarian work by Red Cross, note the word cross in ‘Red Cross!’ Yes, yes indeed, cross will be beamed at your television screens day in and day out, in soap opera, in bought advertisements for different goods, documentaries, movies and even programs for the Chinese children, until some of them begin to believe that Jesus died for them. If you do not believe that Jesus died for you and Confucius, Buddha and Tao did teach us rational thinking, then you may need to give equal time to Islam on the airways, because only Islam with its rational foundation and rich heritage will be able to withstand Christian onslaught of constant flashing of crosses, in different sizes and colors, on the three billion unsuspecting Chinese eyeballs, sometimes overtly and sometimes in hidden subliminal messages!

There are thirty million Chinese Muslims. It would board well for Chinese future, if her leadership would engage these citizens in national media positively and use them as a vehicle to usher in a new age of harmony, freedom, rationality and prosperity for every Chinese. This may be the only means to prevent the quagmire between Christianity and rationality, articulated so eloquently by Soren Kierkegaard, from engulfing 1.5 billion Chinese people. Leaning towards Islam would not only be good religion and history but, also good politics. Long live humanity!

Reference:

1. Thomas Paine Collection. First published 1776. Forgotten Books, 2007. Page 335.

Posted by Zia H. Shah on January 2, 2012. Filed under Agnosticism,Asia,Atheism,Buddhism,China,Christianity,Hinduism,Islam,Islamophobia,Judaism,Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

16 Responses to A watershed moment for China: Islam or Christianity?

Zia H. Shah

December 27, 2011 at 8:13 am

Faith and reason: an invitation to the Christians

Albert Einstein said, “The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge.”

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” Galileo Galilei

Thomas Paine writes in the Age of Reason, “The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason. I have never used any other, and I trust I never shall.”

To read further:

http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2011/12/religion/christianity/faith-and-reason-an-invitation-to-the-christians
Zia H. Shah

December 27, 2011 at 9:01 am

Two natures of Jesus: another Christian mystery
If one tries to genuinely understand or conceptualize the dual or hybrid nature of Jesus rationally, one is likely to be led to truth, away from Trinitarian faith to Unitarianism, be it Christianity, Judaism or Islam. Jesus is a man and God the father is divine.
In logical terms Jesus cannot be man and God at the same time. Like a man cannot be a rock or an apple, at the same time; men, rocks and apples are different things!
Humans and God are different things, but the paradoxical Christian affirmation is called a mystery because you cannot logically explain how Jesus can be both things at once. This is why the rational and insightful Christian theologians label the Christian dogma as mysteries for you cannot logically understand them. Either you adamantly stick to them in the name of faith or you trade them for some other better theology!
Historically, the debate about dual nature of Jesus can be examined in the first few Ecumenical councils and in the sixteenth century in the debate between Martin Luther and Calvin. it is convenient to read some mythical or legendary Jesus, in the prologue of the Gospel of John, but as soon as we start examining the ramifications of divinity of Jesus and the three persons and one being of Trinity, flood gates of contradictions and irrationality open up, that completely wash away any semblance of reasonability in the Christian theology!

http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2011/12/religion/christianity/two-natures-of-jesus-another-christian-mystery
Zia H. Shah

December 27, 2011 at 10:47 am

King David glorifying God the Creator, without knowing an iota about Jesus

King David was a Jewish prophet 7-8 centuries before Jesus and has plenty of coverage in the Old Testament in the Bible. In the Psalms we can read time and again, how the King or the Prophet David glorifies, God the Creator or God the Father, without knowing anything about Jesus, as he preceded him by centuries. David prays:

LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?

(Psalm 8:1-4, New International Version)

So, what I want to suggest for my Christian readers is that to know God, we do not need to necessarily know about Jesus Christ and he forms no part of Divinity, as we can see His Majesty in the prayers of David, without any reference to Jesus! The Christians either have to claim that David did not know what he is talking about and take the wrath of 15 million Jews or accept that Jesus forms no part of divinity!
Zia H. Shah

December 27, 2011 at 11:26 am

Islam and Muslims do not equal terrorism

We have scores of articles here to illustrate that there are some Muslim Terrorists, just like there have been and are Christian and Jewish terrorists, but Islam and Muslims do not equal terrorism.

Keep reading the Muslim Times and find for yourself.
Zia H. Shah

December 27, 2011 at 1:05 pm

Recruiting the four Horsemen of Neo-atheism into Cavalry of Islam
First a few words about the big picture. Atheists are right in exposing the irrationality of the Christian dogma. However, the Christians are right in as far as their claim that there needs to be a Creator of this universe, Who employed natural means to do His work. However, both parties in their self-conceit are not listening to how Islam resolves their conflict; Islam as understood by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Christopher Hitchens, Prof. Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Prof. Richard Dawkins have been called the four horsemen of neo-atheism. That is old news. The latest is that I have just recruited them as volunteers for army of Islam; they form my meager cavalry, which will establish the philosophical superiority of Islam over Christianity. They will work hard for every day of their God given life, for the cause of Islam, without any worldly compensation from me.

Every time they make a good case for evolution, for common lineage of all life forms on planet earth, they establish the truth of Islam as opposed to the dogma of Christianity. In my previous writings I have shown, how evolution, by showing that Adam and Eve were not the first human couple, strikes a death blow to the dogma of Original Sin. I appreciate the clarity of thinking of my cavalry, except in the areas of their blind spots, where they are blinded by their ideology, so I will continue to use their scholarship suitably. With this army of only four, I will fight in all directions, East, West, North and South, by the Grace of Allah. We will fight not with swords or arrows, not even with pen, just one mouse and a key board, which I bought for twenty dollars of my hard earned money! My mouse and key board will just properly direct their words. To make sure that my horsemen do not double cross me and start fighting their own battles, I will need to suitably expose their blind spots of understanding also, so they submit to the will of Allah and continue to serve Islam. Read on, and in the words of Sir Francis Bacon’s advice, “Read not to contradict … but to weigh and consider.”

It is not politically correct to condemn Deism, after all it was the religion of the Founding Fathers of USA and of the celebrated Albert Einstein. In God Delusion, one of my horsemen, Prof. Richard Dawkins applauds the religion of Einstein and in a debate with John Lennox, says that a plausible case could be made for a Deist’s God. But, when it comes to Theism, Christianity and Islam, my horsemen use a broad brush and condemn both equally, without realizing that Islam is much closer to Deism than Christianity.

http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2011/12/religion/recruiting-the-four-horsemen-of-neo-atheism-into-cavalry-of-islam
Zia H. Shah

December 27, 2011 at 1:45 pm

Christianity: Should it evolve into Islam?

Every Christian and Muslim, who is knowledgeable about commentary or exegesis of the scriptures, knows that verses cannot be interpreted in isolation and are understood in the context of their neighboring verses and ultimately in the context of the whole of the scripture. This poses a very special problem for the Bible, if all of it is not literal or even inspired word of God then how can you interpret some genuine verses in light of forgeries and hotch-potch out there? Does the presence of forgeries in the Bible make the whole field of exegesis hocus-pocus? How can you understand word of God in light of fiction and make belief without making the whole affair a joke?

To see my collection of more than 100 articles about Christianity, click here.
Zia H. Shah

December 27, 2011 at 5:15 pm

If Jesus Christ died for three days he could not be eternal, at least not any longer
The three persons in Trinity, God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are allegedly co-eternal and co-equal according to the official Christian belief. But, Trinity has only one claim to fame, it is Paradox Par Excellence. From whatever angle you examine it, it yields new proofs against itself.

First of all the term ‘begotten,’ suggests that Jesus the Son was not eternal with God the Father. Secondly, when he died for three days after crucifixion, he lost any claim to eternity. In other words, Jesus is not eternal at all, he is not of the same substance as the Eternal God the Father.

Time to move on from Trinitarianism, not to atheism but to genuine Unitarianism!
Zia H. Shah

December 27, 2011 at 5:19 pm

Ebionites and the Jews

One of the confusions often created by Christian apologists is as to what is the Orthodox view in Christianity, Unitarian or Trinitarian? The simple answer is that the Jews are strict monotheists and so were the early Christians. They were circumcised according to the Jewish tradition. It was a political move of St Paul to give up circumcision to recruit the gentiles. There are so many proofs for the open minded Christians to see that Unitarian Monotheism was the Jewish position and also position of Jesus Christ and the early Christians. The Exhibit that I want to present in this comment are the ‘Ebionites.’ Each of my comments here is a separate evidence against the dogmas of Christianity especially ‘Trinity.’

Encyclopedia Britannica says about Ebionites, a group of early Christians, as it explains that they did not consider Jesus to be God but a Prophet:

Ebionites are member of an early ascetic sect of Jewish Christians. The Ebionites were one of several such sects that originated in and around Palestine in the first centuries ad and included the Nazarenes and Elkasites. The name of the sect is from the Hebrew ebyonim, or ebionim (‘the poor’); it was not founded, as later Christian writers stated, by a certain Ebion.

Little information exists on the Ebionites, and the surviving accounts are subject to considerable debate, since they are uniformly derived from the Ebionites’ opponents. The first mention of the sect is in the works of the Christian theologian St. Irenaeus, notably in his Adversus haereses (Against Heresies; c. 180); other sources include the writings of Origen and St. Epiphanius of Constantia. The Ebionite movement may have arisen about the time of the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem (ad 70). Its members evidently left Palestine to avoid persecution and settled in Transjordan (notably at Pella) and Syria and were later known to be in Asia Minor and Egypt. The sect seems to have existed into the 4th century.

Most of the features of Ebionite doctrine were anticipated in the teachings of the earlier Qumrān sect, as revealed in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They believed in one God and taught that Jesus was the Messiah and was the true “prophet” mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:15. They rejected the Virgin Birth of Jesus, instead holding that he was the natural son of Joseph and Mary. The Ebionites believed Jesus became the Messiah because he obeyed the Jewish Law. They themselves faithfully followed the Law, although they removed what they regarded as interpolations in order to uphold their teachings.

“Ebionite.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 06 Jan. 2010 .
Muhammad Zafrullah

December 28, 2011 at 12:39 am

Please change: “the fact that the founders of all religions, Confucius, Buddha, Tao, Krishna, Ram, Moses and Jesus were prophets of God.” to
“the fact that the founders of all other religions, Confucius, Buddha, Tao, Krishna, Ram, Moses and Jesus were prophets of God.
Pingback: December 2011 eGazette – A watershed moment for China: Islam or Christianity? « Al Islam Ahmadiyya
abdul-basit

January 15, 2012 at 4:40 pm

Zia Shah mentioned in one of his articles of the proof that Adam and Eve were not the first hunan couple. I would like to know where I can find that article? Thank you very much for your help.
Zia H. Shah

January 15, 2012 at 6:28 pm

Every proof of evolution is a proof of the fact that the Prophet Adam and Mother Eve were not the first humans as they lived about 6000 years ago. The best proofs of common lineage of all life forms on the planet earth are biogeography and molecular biology and you can search my articles on these subjects.

Additionally, the fact that Adam and Eve are not the first human couple becomes a powerful argument against Original Sin. I am linking an article, where you will find the link of my Muslim Sunrise article about Original Sin:

http://alislam.us/2011/11/28/evaluating-original-sin-against-scientific-discoveries/

If this does not answer your question please let me know.

Best Regards
Zia H. Shah

January 18, 2012 at 5:43 pm

Ahmadiyya Muslim Community launches a new state of the art website, to engage Christian, agnostic and atheist readers.

Especially check out the Homepage and page about ‘Revelation,’ which is important as the secular world is in denial of it altogether.

Find the link in the Muslim Times or try: http://islamforwest.org/

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Zia H. Shah

January 26, 2012 at 2:21 pm

Sir David Attenborough on God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8DL-o-POcU&feature=related
Sir Attenborough certainly stands in awe of the majesty of nature but raises the question of suffering to deny God. Let me quote here the concluding paragraph, in the later editions of the legendary book of Sir Charles Darwin, on the Origin of Species that can make one quickly conceptualize the role of suffering in the grand scheme of things:

From the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed, by the Creator, into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

Once the question about suffering is understood as a tool for evolution, as Charles Darwin suggested, then one is ready to fully appreciate the beauty of God’s creation as suggested by many of the verses of the Holy Quran.
Ming Yao

April 27, 2012 at 1:03 pm

I am Chinese-Christian…and I converted to Christianity because I wanted to, not because of my atheist family or anyone evangelizing…
Rafiq A. Tschannen

April 27, 2012 at 3:48 pm

You are sincerely invited to now also study ‘Islam for the West’. Please click on the relevant icon on our website. (It is also for the East!!!!! May be we need to change our headings, because we know that Eastern Christians are in fact better Christians than the Western ones).