Interfaith Dialogue in Islam

Despite the clear teaching of Islam that advocates well-wishing for others and a human-friendly behaviour, a large number of present-day Muslims have strayed from this course. It is the spirit of well-wishing which is required to maintain normalcy in a society. All constructive and creative endeavours can be fulfilled only when people engage in human-friendly behaviour and do not follow the policy of antagonism. This example shows how it is some Muslims who have deviated from the path of Islam. Why do Muslim clerics reject the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam? I slam has a traditional established model according to which Muhammad is: God’s Messenger and the seal of the Prophets. (Quran 33:40) The Ahmadiyya sect deviated from this established model and claimed that their founder was a prophet. When Muslims informed them that Muhammad was the final Prophet according to Islam, they said that their founder was in reality Zil-e-Nabi (Shadow of Prophet). This concept is prima facie baseless since it has no valid basis in the Quran and the Hadith. This is why the Ahmadiyya sect is rejected by every Muslim cleric outside the Ahmadiyya School of Thought. However, the violent reaction of Muslims against people belonging to this sect is not justified. Topics of these sort are subject of intellectual discussion and peaceful persuasion. By no means should any form of violence or boycotting be used against them. Why do most Muslims have a tendency to try to convert people to their religion? I slam does not subscribe to the concept of conversion. It believes that religion is a matter of individual choice. The search for the truth should be every person’s individual effort and the decisions one then takes in the matter of religion is completely personal. The concept of religious conversion is alien to the Quran. It has no basis in the Quran. The Quran speaks of marefat, which means God-realization or the discovery of God. So, the truth is your own discovery, your own realization. It is a personal choice. If you want to know what the purpose of life is, what life and death are about, and so on, you have to study, reflect and discuss with learned people. And after that, you may reach some conclusion. And that is your religion. So, your religion is your own discovery. In religious ‘conversion’, there are two parties: the converter and the converted. But this is not the concept in Islam. In Islam, there is only one party—and that is you. If you want to find the