Interfaith Dialogue in Islam

It is common that every truthful person, who has attained realization, wants to spread the truth to others. The truth is a motivating spirit and anyone who believes in it shall leave no stone unturned to convey it to people around him. For example, Swami Vivekananda reached the US without any wherewithal and despite great difficulty only so as to transmit the message he believed in. What sort of reforms do you suggest in Islam to adapt to the today’s world? Can we adopt a thousand years’ old religious model? I slam does not need reform; it needs revival. The authentic text of the Quran is available and needs no alteration or correction. The only need is to re-interpret Quranic teachings in the modern idiom. Some Muslims scholars consider Islam to be a complete socio-political system, which is the root cause of many problems. Islam is a religion of individual following and not of forceful implementation of a particular system or state in society. Should I be Shia or Sunni? I t depends on an individual’s freedom of choice. A person should do self-study and follow the conclusion he arrives at after a thorough analysis. Every religion has a set of basic tenets and some differing non-basic tenets. In case of Shia and Sunni, differences are only in matters of non-basic tenets. It is extremism in non-basic matters which usually causes confrontation. The basic tenets of the oneness of God and belief in the Quran as a revealed divine message are common across different schools of thought in Islam. Is negativity towards Ahmadi Muslims justified? Negative thinking towards Ahmadi Muslims is a case of extremism exercised by the ulema. It should be understood that calling oneself a Muslim is a prerogative the individual alone. No person has the authority to designate another person as ‘Muslim’, nor does anyone have the right to excommunicate someone from Islam. According to a tradition, narrated on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, the Prophet of Islam said: Whoever prays like us and faces our qiblah … is a Muslim and is under God’s and His Apostle’s protection. So, do not betray God by betraying those who are in His protection. (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 391)