More reader comments....

I guess my skepticism to the veracity of the circulating chain email describing Rick Mathes' alleged verbal tussle with a supposed Muslim Imam (see previous post here) was spot on. Fellow blogger micketymoc has clearly pointed out in his comments that the said incident may not have happened exactly as Mr. Mathes has claimed it did. Check out the following links which he has graciously supplied:

Rick Mathes Challenges a Muslim Imam? - BreakTheChain.org
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Politics (Allah or Jesus?)

Of course, Mr. Mathes, still insists that it did happen as depicted in the email. Feel free to review the information in the links above, and to decide for yourself.

CL, another fellow blogger, posted a particularly fascinating comment based on liguistic analysis of the various terms used in the alleged verbal exchange. You'll find her comments reproduced below (slightly reformatted for readability). I think you'll find her take on it pretty interesting as well. :-)

Obviously, this Rick Mathes is a Christian fisher with one goal in mind and that is to fish and defend his faith. He may be verse with his faith, but lack the understanding of others belief. Quote he said, “Please correct me if I am wrong…” It is also obvious, that he has very little knowledge even understanding of what Jihad means, what it entails, when it is required, how it is done and so fort so on. In the process, it is crucial that he makes his points across to convince that the other faiths are wrong. The prison cell of America has become the religious market for many faiths but predominantly among the Christians and Muslims. It’s like saying; let those who get away with words wins. In which case, all failed that there is only one message – Stop the damn creation of crimes. Unfortunately and it seems, that most of these religious preachers are the very roots of troubles occurring in today’s world conflict. I need not explain some of the famous people in the history and to current.

In Arabic, the word infidel is translated as kufr (pronounced kuf’ar) refers to those who have no faith. The Christians and the Jews are not infidels. In fact in Arabic, they are called, Ahlul- Kitab which means “The People of the Book” (The people who believes in the Torah (Old Testament) and the Bible (the New Testament) in which the Muslims revered these books as part of the 6 tenets of faiths. For the Muslims to say unwisely about the wisdoms of these Prophets and to trash the very wisdom behind these books ---- KNOWS NOTHING about their religion moreover their faith – and likewise.

Allah is an Arabic word means God as in the Filipino translation diyos, in Spanish dios. It does not reflect a gender compared to his creation of man and woman. All the Prophets of God (Monotheistic Abrahamic faiths) are men. Jesus was different; he was born of the Virgin Maryam (Mary) and was created as in “Be!” Some people believes that Jesus is God, others believes he is three in one (the trinity), others believe that he is one of the Prophets of God.

It strikes me again to see how religious preachers go for differences rather commonalities. Why is it that these religious leaders and people with mouths find it important to slander other faiths rather than bringing people to peace and understanding?

Did Jesus ever said, “Allah or me?” anywhere in the Bible?

I grew up praying the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus himself, said the “Our Father who art thou in Heaven, hallowed be by thy Name, they Kingdom come”

Jesus(a.s) said,

"And Jesus answered him, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is One Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." Mark 12:29-30

So much of Jesus words in the Bible (Injeel) explained clearly his status and beliefs. What went wrong with the interpretations and practices? Ahhhhh but the telephone game existed long before it acquired its name. So what do we see today ----- Countless denominations and sects rooted from various beliefs all making claims, all making new rules unnecessary, some are even none existence but people are led to believe that it is legitimate.

Muslims are people who profess AND subscribe to the Islam faith of believing that there is only one God. Not necessarily a faithful believer (mumeen). Some are described as munafiq (hypocrites), others are described as zalimun (wrong doers). In which case, rarely would any admit to these flaws hahahhaha.

Imams are compared to a Pastor, Priest, Minister but not the absolute hiarchy of Islamic jurist with those who holds the title Sheiks (compared to as Pope or members of diocese).

philhealth.tk summed it up quite nicely when he said:

All I know is that when a Christian and a Moslem Father pray to God to Save their Children in the ICU, Only one God will answer their prayers. Sometimes both children are saved, sometimes only one. But when the life of a child is at stake, do you think God would care if the Father would call him Allah or Jesus?

Something to think about.

To everyone who commented, thank you very much for sharing your views in this blog. Hope to hear from all of you again in the next thought-provoking post. :-)