Interfaith Dialogue in Islam

world and the receiving of selective information over the news toxically combines into a feeling of being unwelcomed in their own domicile country. No community could progress with such a mindset. They need to realize that there is an equal opportunity for everyone in this country – from primary education to jobs – it needs to be availed through hard work. Does Islam prohibit art and music? Art and music are your personal choices. Islam does not interfere with this, as it is not in the domain of faith. Islam neither prescribes these as lawful nor unlawful. If someone committed shirk, is it punishable and do we have the right to implement this punishment. Is this what Allah desires from us? T his is entirely wrong. Nowhere in the Quran is it written in the Quran that one who does shirk (associate partners with God) should be killed or punished. This is highly baseless. This is a deviation from the freedom that human beings have been given by God in this world. Crime is the name of a social harm – like committing murder in society. Such a crime deserves punishment, but holding a certain belief or idea is not something that invites punishment. The Quran teaches: So exhort them: your task is only to exhort, you are not their keeper. (Quran 88:21-22) No person is accountable to another person, he is accountable only to God. Implementing punishment in matters of thought or belief is to position oneself on the throne of the Creator. Why is the spirit of Islam being lost in Muslims? T he degeneration that we see in present Muslims had been predicted by the Prophet. According to a hadith: A time will come when nothing except the name of Islam will remain [among Muslims] and nothing except the words of the Quran will remain [among Muslims]. (Shuab al-Iman, al-Bayhaqi, hadith no. 1763) This is not surprising because every community undergoes degeneration and Muslims are no exception to this principle. This degeneration does not set in in the first generation, but in the