Christian Argues Against His Own Translators

We Write From Truth -
They Argue With None!
Shahadahs For Christians
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Yusuf Estes gives us examples to:
Call to Islam as a "Way of life in submission to God in Peace"

Debate Brings Hate

Dialog For Dawah

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Allah said in the Holy Quran:

"Invite to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided." [Surah An-Nahl, chapter 16, verse 125]

"And do not argue with the people of the Book (Jews & Christians), unless it is in a way that is better (good words, good manners, invite to tawheed 'Oneness of God'), except for those who do wrong, and say (to them): "We believe in what has been revealed to us and revealed to you; our Gode and your God is One, and to Him we have submitted (in Islam)." [Surah Al-Ankabut, chapter 29, verse 46]

Try these websites before you start:

www.WhatsIslam.com (basic introduction and very easy for English speakers to understand)

www.GodAllah.com (very nice for the tawheed)

www.AllahsQuran.com (memorize some links to help them find things quickly)

www.Qtafsir.com (better understanding for all of us)

www.911Bible.com (online books, pamphlets & information about Christianity)

www.BibleIslam.com (details of History and makings of the Church, their current Bibles and more)

www.ProphetOfIslam.com (some basic topics to help others know the real Muhammad, peace be upon him)

www.ChatIslam.com (best place to send new people who have questions - live programs with QA everyday)

www.ConvertsReverts.com (excellent videos made by the people who converted about themselves and their stories)

We encourage dialogs with all faiths. But not debates. Many times debates are full of anger without guidance or too much heat and not enough light.

Read different examples of dialogs between different Christians and Yusuf Estes, a former Christian businessman and part time music minister before entering into Islam in July of 1991. (His story is below)

The simple beauty of understanding where people are coming from in their thinking and having proper knowledge of Islam and the methodology of explaining Islam (menhaj ad dawah), is demonstrated here to show how close some of the statements against Islam are partially true.

In fact verifying the proof that Islam is the only correct religion with Allah.These questions are from some people Allah has been testing with belief in Christianity & Islam.

Answers are provided from Yusuf Estes.

As we will see, many times the very objections and complaints that others have about Islam, can actually be used to support the correct teachings of Islam.

These problems come from the fact we usually do not know enough about two things:

1. What the people really mean by what they say

2. Not enought about our own religion.

Now look at these emails and chatroom examples to see the art of agreeing with people on points where they are right and then sharing correct understanding on the points where they are mistaken - without making them mad, angry or upset.

Comments  (bottom of page)

Read . .

Notice the beginning of so many of the replies:

"Thank you for writing to us with your ideas, comments and questions"

In a message dated 3/14/2002 9:22:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, a Christian writes:

> Why do you Muslims keep talking about memorizing the Koran? What is the big deal about memory of the Koran? No one I have ever met memorized the Bible. Why would they? Does anyone even think about such things?

Answer:

Yes. You are right. This is true. None of the Christian leaders or church people show concern about preserving the Bible the way Muslims have ensured the preservation of the  Quran. Not one of them seems do this or even discuss something like this - not Pat Robertson, not Jimmy Swaggart, not Benny Hind, not Oral Roberts, not Billy Graham - not even Pope John Paul.

Yet all the Muslms around the world love to recite from memoray the Holy Quran, exactly the same way - even though almost all Muslims (over 88%) are from non-Arab countries, with different languages, cultures, backgrounds and traditions.

They all recite the Quran, exactly the same way, word for word, letter for letter, dot for dot - and all in the Arabic language.

Imagine, over 20,000,000+ Muslims living today in various parts of the world - All have memorized the entire Quran, in the original format, orginal language, just as it was recited by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, 1,400 years ago.

10,000,000+ Muslims, living today have memorized the entire Quran, in the original Arabic language exactly as it was recited by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, over 1,400 years ago.

Please feel free to visit our website and read my articles about the Quran and the miracles that it contains in regard to modern discoveries in science, medicine and even space travel.

> I guess it is not wise to judge all the people of a religion by only looking at a few of them in the news.

Answer:

Yes, again. Muslims are not the final judge. It is only Allah who is the Judge. And Islam is based on the teachings of the Quran and the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him. What some people chose to do, and then call it "Islam" does not affect the truth of what Islam really is. So the answer here to you is; "No. It is not correct to judge a system of belief by some people who claim to be in that religion."
After all, Hitler, Al Capone (1930s gangster) and Timothy McVeigh (the man who confessed to bombing the Federal building in Oklahoma City) all claimed to be Christians the same as you. But I feel certain that you would not want anyone judging you and your beliefs based on those characters, right?

> I think you must be from a Catholic background and that's why Islam convinced you more but Jesus is the truth, the way and the life.

Answer:

Well I was a Christian Protestant, not a Catholic. My family for generations have all been in nondenominational Christianity, simply called "Christian Church" until the 1950s when there was a split and one branch became known as the "Disciples of Christ."

You might be interested to know that all of the Protestant churches today have their origins in the Catholic Church. However, the Catholic Church actually was in business in Rome for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, peace be upon him.

It was the old Roman Universal Church originating out of the concepts of Alexander the Great. It was totally pagan in its origins. And the first time it came in contact with the early Church Fathers, at the Nicaea Council, (325 AD) it swallowed up their books, and teachers and totally revamped the whole religion.

The day of worship was CHANGED from Saturday (Sabbath) to Sunday to accommodate the Emperor's worship of his religion. He was a cult worshipper in "Sol Invictus" (Invincible Sun). He was a sun worshipper and believed that he was the son of the sun, literally.

That was the time when the day for celebrating Jesus birthday was CHANGED to December the 25.

Also, the addition of the rites of the Feast of Ishtar (now called Easter) were established.

Another interesting note is that fact that the books that were offer at the Nicaea Council by the original Christians totaled in number exceeding 200. Yet they only selected a few. The Catholics held onto a total of 73 books from the Old and New Testament. Later (early 1500s) the Protestant Reformation reduced the number to only 66. Keeping 39 books of the Old Jewish Testament and 27 books for what they called the New Testament. The Coptic claim they have the more accurate version being the one based on Saint Mark's Testament.

It is important to note the Catholic Church was not the only church out there at that time. The Arab Copts (Egypt), and the Greek Orthodox and the Eastern Orthodox were already in place. Christianity had already reached the British Isles before the Nicaea Council so they already had the foundation for the Anglican Church. Christianity had made some influence into the superstitions of the Germanic parts of Europe and the affects of their nature worship began to affect the beliefs of the Christians in those areas. This is evidenced by the results arising out of the Catholic movement in that area in later dates.

See this website for more details: www.BibleIslam.com

Comments  (bottom of page)

As for me personally, I did visit a number of churches in the Protestant denominations. However, I have never attended a single mass or any Catholic form of worship. I have been to a Catholic wedding but I felt that it was too much for me in many ways.

> Philosophies, ideas, magic, evil , etc., can not bring dead back to life, only GOD can.

Answer:

Yes. That is also the belief of a Muslim. Humans also do not bring the dead back to life except by the permission of Allah, as in the case of Jesus, peace be upon him, when Allah let him bring Lazarus back from the dead.

> God brought me back to life one time. After I was dead and doctors saw me and then I came back to life, believe it or not -

Answer:

We as Muslims believe that when a person dies they do not recycle or come back to this life. However, we also know that Allah sent Jesus to perform miracles to show people that he was a prophet of Allah. One of the miracles was to bring back a man to life.

But the man still ended up dying later anyway. Allah has told us in the Quran that "every soul shall taste death." This includes even Jesus, as I am sure that you are well aware

We are not dead yet, but when we are, it will only be Allah who will bring us back and about that we may be sure.

> Catholics have a system with a lot of things not even mentioned in the bible. So you probably compared it to Islam. I can understand that.

Answer:

Yes. You are correct again. And that is why the Protestants (from the word "protest") broke off from the Catholic church in 1520 under Martin Luther. Many different forms of Christianity grew out of this break up and each of them claimed they were correct.

Question here is: "How do you know which one is correct?"

> But if you are saying you knew the JESUS mentioned in the bible and then also you accepted Islam . . .?

Answer:

The more that I searched for the "Jesus" of the Bible in sincerity and honesty, the more that Allah led me to know the true "Jesus" and what his message really was.

He was telling the people not to change the Word of God and not to worship anyone alongside of God. He was calling himself by the title of the prophets mentioned in the Old Testament; "Son of Man." This is clear when you compare the statements in Ezekiel.

Jesus was doing his miracles by the permission of Allah, the Almighty. He did nothing on his own, but rather by the One who sent him in the first place. This is the understanding in Islam and the teachings in what remains of the Holy Bible.

Comments  (bottom of page)

> hmmmm...are you sure about the information you have about Jesus?

Answer:

Good question. I have information from a number of sources. But the most authentic of all is the Holy Quran as it still exists today. We Muslims must agree with the fact that Jesus is the "miracle birth" as that is in the Quran. His mother was a virgin. She was the best of women ever created.

Jesus, peace be upon him, did many miracles by Allah's permission. He did not know what was in Allah, but Allah Knows what is in him, peace be upon him. Jesus did not die, God took him up and he will come back down to earth in the Last Days. He will kill the Anti-Christ. The true believers will follow him. There will be victory over the evil one.

Another excellent source for us is the tradition of God's last prophet to mankind, Muhammad, peace be upon him.

In Islam we have even learned what he looks like, where he will appear, what he will do first and the order of the things that will happen in the Last Days.

> Yes. But did you really know Jesus?

Answer.

Actually, we know a lot more about Jesus, peace be upon him, in Islam that any other sources. We know his name in Hebrew, how to pronounce it; we know his appearance what he looked like; we know his very first miracle - defending his mother's honor when he was still a tiny baby, we know what really happed about the 'Cross', where he is where he will return to earth.

> Do you really know all this about Jesus?

Answer.

Good question. the person you are calling "Jesus?" Let us start with his name.

Was it "Jesus"? - No.

The word "Jesus" is the Latinized name given to him after the Council of Nicaea. His name comes from the Old Semitic name "Eeshua" or "Eesa." This is based on the pronunciation of the letter known as "seen" or in Hebrew "sheen." The Jewish pronounce the word for "peace" as "Shalom;" whereas, the Arabic pronunciation would be "Salam." So we see how the name of "Eesa" can also be "Eeshua." But why should we say "Jesus" when he never called himself by that name?

Next, we know that he was not born on December 25. (documented in the Nicaea Council records).

According to the Bible he was born during the census taking for the tax polls at the time of Herod the Great. This was done in the Fall of the year, not the winter. According to the Quran, he was born at the time dates would be ripe and ready to fall from the trees. That again, is in the fall, not in the winter.

Also, he was born before the beginning of the calendar date 1 AD (According to the Bible, he was born in the reign of Herod the Great which would probably have been around 6 BC)

Outside of the Bible, the only other chronicler of events of that time was Josephus. Josephus was a Jew and he worked for the Romans as an advisor and journalist. He lived in the area and even traveled about the same time and to the same places as did Saul (later became Paul). Josephus does not mention Jesus or the son of God or anything like this occurring.

The Quran tells us Mary, mother of Jesus was about to deliver her child and got ripe dates from the date palm tree and this must have been in the fall time of the year.

Try this website: www.BibleIslam.com

Comments  (bottom of page)

> I am sure you read the bible and found contradictions in it, just because you were looking for them?

Answer:

I have read the Bible many times since I was old enough to read. I have many different versions in different languages of the Holy Bible. I also have the books of commentary and explanation of the Bible, including the Strong's Concordance of the Bible.

My father, although he was an ordained minister in the Evangelical Christian, he never actually pastored a church. He was the first one to point out mistakes in the King James Version of the Bible.

The Revised Standard Version very clearly points out a number of "Grave mistakes and errors" in the King James Version of the Bible. In his book, "History of the Translations of the Bible into the English Language," the Biblical scholar F. F. Bruce, clearly states that the first revision of the King James Version came in the very next year after its first translation due to very serious errors in it.

The book, "Who Wrote the Bible" very clearly states a number of human mistakes and errors. Other books in my library today include apocrypha and "lost" books of the Bible and all of them clearly show that there is room for admission of errors, mistakes, contradictions and interpolations in the Bible.

There is not a single serious Bible scholar that would tell you that he has an original of the Bible. Nor is there one who really believes that the Bible was revealed in English. This is nonsense and does not even merit a discussion. The version that is offered in book stores today in Greek, is actually a backward translation from the English to the Greek and not the other way around as many people mistakenly believe.

The same is true for most languages including Arabic. I own a number of different versions and translations of the Bible into many languages. The Arabic and the Spanish will translate right into the English version easily, mistakes and all. Why? Because that is where they came from to start with. There was no English language, no Spanish language, no Portuguese language, no French language at the time of Jesus (or Muhammad, peace be upon him, for that matter). So where did these translations come from? Straight from the English. If you go back to older manuscripts you will find many problems with what is being represented in these "modern" versions of the Bible.

Comments  (bottom of page)

Perhaps you would like to read my book on this topic. Feel free to visit our website and print it out. It is free. And you can make copies if you like.

www.911Bible.com and another one www.IslamTomorrow.com/bible

> So you were not just trying to prove the Bible has mistakes?

Answer.

No. Not at all. We did not try to prove the Bible was wrong. We only tried to find out where the Bible was right. That is why I looked into the old manuscripts and the Dead Sea Scrolls (actually: Wadi Qumran Scrolls) of the ancient languages.

> How could you leave Christianity for ISLAM?

Answer.

Thank you for asking about my conversion to Islam from being a Christian.

I will try to explain what happened to us in brief:

My father was an ordained minister, I preached Christianity to anyone who would listen in those days. My wife was a strong believer and we did go to church regularly in those days.

We met a Muslim from Egypt and we tried to convert him to Christianity to "save" him. He came to live in our big home out in the country near Dallas, Texas. We also met a Catholic priest who was recovering from a heart attack. He too came to live with us in our home.

My father, my wife, myself, the Catholic priest and the Muslim from Egypt used to all sit around the table at night and discuss the Bible, religion, beliefs, Jesus, peace be upon him. We felt sure that we must be in the right religion and that we just had different understandings of things.

But it was the Muslim who made the amazing statement that I shall never forget. He said, "If what you have is better than what I have, then I am willing to join you.

I thought, "Wow! This will be easy. Get the baptismal ready! We're going to give this boy a bath tonight!"

But then he said something else that I shall remember for a long time, "But you will need to have proof."

I said, "Proof?" "We don't need proof. We only need faith."

He said, "Muslims have faith, and proof."

This caused me to think out loud. Before I knew it, I heard my voice saying something like, “You to sit there and tell me, you Muslims can prove there is God?”

Imagine my surprise when the reply came, “And you mean to sit there and tell me, that you Christians can’t?”

That is when we began to learn the miracles in the Quran and how that it came 1,400 years ago, yet it told of things that would happen in the future and they did happen. Additionally, it talks about science and medicine, biology, formation of the universe, the earth being round and in an orbit, and even about going into outer space.

All of this came over 1,400 years ago to a man who could neither read nor write. It was all recited in classical Arabic in beautiful prose that none have been able to imitate until this very day.

And even I could learn this language and understand and recite it. What an amazing thing.

But it was the Catholic priest who embraced Islam first. Then my wife made it known to me that she too, was ready to live the live of a Muslim woman and wanted to wear the covering and be treated as the women of Islam are treated, with respect and honor.

I accepted Islam the very next morning.

My father came along a little later on at his own speed.

All of us were changed and we have seen many more good, righteous and honest Christians, even priests, bishops and ministers coming to Islam since that time.

You can get the whole story by going to: www.YusufEstes.com

Comments  (bottom of page)

> God forgive me for my immatureness. I'm just a creation of GOD!!

Answer:

Again, we agree with you 100%. We are all only creations of the One Creator. He created the heavens and the earth and the angels and Adam. From Adam He created Eve and from them two He created all the humans of the earth.

So, if you accept that, then you and I were already brothers in humanity. But since your confession of faith in the Surrender, Submission, Obedience, Sincerity and Peace with the Almighty, and you believe that only Allah Almighty has the right to determine what is religion in the first place; and you accept that only His Will should be done on earth, we may be closer to each other in faith than many others who claim to be Christian or Jew.

You see, after all, the one who truly believes in the original Books of Allah and His prophets, peace be upon them all, will likely see the same truth in Islam. When they wake up to the beauty and truth of Islam they will recognize it to be the same religion that Jesus preached and they will be most excited to enter into it just as I did, and my father did, and my wife did and our friend the Catholic priest did, eleven years ago.

My final advise to you as a brother human is to go off in private somewhere that nobody even knows what you are doing and then pray as you have never prayed before, directly to the One Almighty God of the universe. Ask Him for His Guidance for you in this life.

Thank you so much for your good questions and may Allah guide us to all Truth and forgive me for my shortcomings and for anything that I may have said wrong, as well. Ameen.

> I say, let God's will be done. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen! Amen!

Answer.

You said something very good, according to Islam. Because everything is by the Will of Almighty God, and we submit ourselves to that idea totally.

But then you said, 'in Jesus name'. You know Jesus prayed right?

Who did Jesus pray to?

> Jesus prayed to the Father in Heaven.

Answer.

Well, we can agree he did pray to the Creator in Heaven. But we Muslims do not compare Almighty God to our parents, neither mother or father. And we call Him by His proper name, in Arabic - which is 'Allah'.

By the way, we pray in the Name of the Almighty, Himself. We say; "Bismillah." This means in the Name of Almighty Allah." We don't pray in the name of Moses or Muhammad, or Abraham or Jesus.

None of these mighty and wonderful prophets of Almighty God Above ever prayed in their own names or someone else's name when praying to the One Above. Jesus did not pray in his own name.

So, we pray to the same God Above that they prayed to, in the same way that they prayed to Him. We even follow the physical style they they followed, that was standing, bowing, putting our face on the ground to Him in our prayers.

And we even say what prophets have said at the end of prayers for many centuries, even before Jesus, peace be upon him. After a prayer we say, Ameen.

Find out more here: www.GodAllah.com

> Well, anyway it was nice to talk to you and I learned so much today. I pray for God's Will to be done and for us to follow His Will on earth, as it is in Heaven, Ameen.

Answer.

This is beautiful coming from you at the end of your letters telling me of Christianity. Because you just said what we Muslms are saying too!

We all want God's Will for us and we want to be in His service doing as He Commands. If fact, that is what the words 'Islam' and 'Muslim' actually mean.

> WHAT?

Answer.

Yes. What you are saying is you want to be in submission to God, on His Terms worshiping Him alone without partners and obeying Him in peace. All you need to know now is more about Muhammad, peace be upon him, as the last and final prophet of Almighty Allah to mankind. And then you can be a Muslim too.

"Islam" means, "God's Will be done on earth, especially in us as human beings." The actual meaning of the word "Islam" comes from the root word, "salama." And there are five clear meanings into the English language from the word "Islam." They are:

• • 1. Surrender to God's Will
  • 2. Submission to God's Will
  • 
    
  • 3. Obedience to God's Will
• • 4. Sincerity to God's Will
  • 
    
  • 5. Being in Peace with God's Will

Now in Arabic instead of using the suffix of "er" at the end of a verb to show the one who is performing the action, you place the letter "meem" in front of the verb and then pronounce it "mu."

Therefore, one who "Islam's" would be a "mu" "Islam" -- Muslim.

So, may Allah accept your admission of Islam being the correct way of life and may He make all of us in "His Will," ameen.

Comments  (bottom of page)

> This is all so amazing. It is deep in thought and I must know more answers to my questions. I have always been praying in Jesus name and asking him.

Answer.

You know what comes to my mind on this issue? This could be one of your problems.

You can drop the middle man and pray direct to God. That you can be assured that the One Above is accepting it.

When you pray in the name of something else or someone else, then Almighty God Above is not going to accept your prayer.

After all if a person insists on making up things for worship that the Lord has not Commanded, or not approved, it will be rejected.

> Well I agree. This makes sense. Practicing what you like is OK for you! But if I tell someone their religion is false it brings up arguments.

Answer:

You are right once again. And in Islam we are taught that there is no compulsion in religion. Everyone is free to accept or reject Islam. But if a person submits to Allah in Islam, it is expected that they will do it wholeheartedly and not just play around.

We only pray to God Almighty Allah.

And we worship Him in His way, in prayer five times a day. We fast the month of Ramadhan. We pay charity to the poor (Muslims or non-Muslims alike). And we make the pilgrimage to Makkah to commemorate the religious rites of Abraham.

This is what Islam calls for.

> But why do you think I could be a Muslim?

Actually in your last statement above it was you who said that you wanted "God's Will to be done."

So, now you wouldn't want to change your mind and ask for some other will to be done instead of Allah's would you?

> Of course not.

God Almighty has His Will and you and I want that to be done on earth in the place of the things that oppose His Will, right?

> Right.

Answer.

So, we are not seeking the 'Will' of any person. We negate the 'Will' of individuals in favor of the Will of the Almighty on His Terms. Right?

> Yes, of course. Right!

Answer.

Now keep in mind I am not making up this in our dialogue here. I am not the one who determines what God's Will is.

Only Allah does that. So this necessarily cancels all of the opposing 'will' of those created humans here on earth.

And you just got through bearing witness to the truth of it in your last statement.

> OK. That sounds right. Yes. But what does all this mean to me now?

Answer.

What this means to all of us is, There is only One God. He is the only One to tell us what He will accept in worship'.

That is why we say: "God's Will" not my will, be done on earth as it is in Heaven. You just said it yourself. So there can only be one correct religion -- the one that God has ordered and it is in fact "Islam" as you just witnessed to yourself.

> You claim what you believe is right, and I do agree. But, if we say the rest of religions are false, where does that leave everyone else?

> Your claim that what you believe is right and the rest is false and that's what made me email you, sorry if I offended you. By the way, I do agree totally with the ideas you have said about there being only One God and to worship Him without other gods is my goal too.

Answer:

Actually you are getting closer and closer with every thought and every statement. It is not my claim that my religion is right - Rather, I claim that God is Right and only His religion is acceptable to Him.

Please make the distinction between what God says and what some people say God says. He is the Only One we believe in and it is His Way we are seeking. And by the way, you have not offended me at all.

I'm happy to hear you are ready to surrender to the Will of God. This is so beautiful. I only regret that I have been traveling for so long and am only just now having the time to read your letter.

May Allah always keep you in His Will, ameen.

Comments  (bottom of page)

> I want to know more and get more information about all this. What do you recommend now?

Answer.

We have a number of websites, all designed to help folks know the basics of Islam and what it teaches and to help us all draw closer to Almighty Allah.

Here is a very good place to start:

www.WhatsIslam.com - and then - www.GodAllah.com - also - www.AllahsQuran.com -- and this one - www.ProphetOfIslam.com

Our teachers are online daily on our TV channel on Satelllite and also in our chatrooms - to give basic information and answer questions LIVE on the phone:

www.ChatIslam.com (our chatroom is always open 24 hours a day - and many times you find teachers ready to help)

www.GuideUS.TV (now on satellite World TV 99 and on the Internet with recorded and live broadcasts - click the 'LIVE' link for current broadcast)

And now also on iPhone, iPad and Android

Go to the APP store and type in GUIDEUS TV

All answers were provided by Yusuf Estes, national chaplain and director for SHARE ISLAM PROJECT, unless otherwise stipulated.
Pray for all those who are assisting him to do so only for the sake of Allah.

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