Interfaith Dialogue in Islam

The basic theme of the Quran is to make the reader aware of the creation plan of God, according to which the present world has been created for a limited period of time. When this time is over and this world shall be brought to an end, the Day of Judgement shall take place. According to Islamic belief, it would be a Day of Justice where the deeds of every individual – good or bad – shall be laid bare and according to the deeds in the pre-death period, their final destination shall be decreed. Entry into Paradise is not based on any kind of recommendation, and it is not anyone’s birthright. It depends totally on one’s deeds and how one uses one’s God-given freedom. The Quran is very clear on this point: Man shall have only that for which he strives. (Quran 53:39) If a person has true faith in God, then such a faith makes him modest. His speech and his conduct reflect his living faith in God. He thinks of God constantly watching over him. Some commentators on the Quran have defined a true believer as one who believes in the unseen in the manner in which he believes what is seen. A believer lives in this world in the same state that will overcome people when they will directly see God on the Day of Judgement. A believer surrenders to God in the present world itself. Is it not a crime to demolish a mosque? T here are four schools of jurisprudence: Shafi, Maliki, Hanbali and Hanafi. There is a book in Hanbali School where the clerics had given the fatwa that if a mosque has to be demolished for a valid reason, it would be considered justified. If a mosque is demolished in a country by non-state actors, it is a matter of administrative concern which would have to be sorted out by the administration. People must accept whatever the administration of the country decides. Can we interpret Islam in any way we prefer? How open to interpretation is Islam? O ne is to change the accepted norm of religion which have been established by the Quran and the Hadith. For example, if Islam is a monotheistic religion and if someone claims that godhead can by multiple, it is not acceptable. In other words, change of interpretation is not accepted in the matter of the fundamental principles of Islam. For instance, there are five pillars of Islam: namaz (prayer), sawm (fasting), Hajj (annual pilgrimage), zakat (obligatory almsgiving) and shahada (belief in the Islamic creed that there is one God and that Muhammad, pbuh, is the messenger of God). There cannot be any changes in these basic principles.