“And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge.” (Quran 30:22)Colour is not only about the colour of the skin, saying he’s black, he’s white, and he’s brown etc. It is also about the differences when it comes to our mentalities and cognitive understanding of matters The differences in colour when it comes to our behaviour Our genetic differences This person is short tempered while this one is very calm, this man is generous while this other man is stingy … These are also considered differences in colours But unfortunately any group which agrees on something tend to believe that they are on the ultimate true path And consider the other party on a completely wrong and ignorant path I am right and you are wrong! Who told you so? Who lied to you and informed you that you are on the one and only right path? The only way you can achieve the ultimate straight truth Is if for example you mention an ayah from the Quran That has a straightforward interpretation and you have all the historic facts and variations about this ayah and how and when it was revealed, As well as, its grammatical and linguistic rulings and its connection to other verses And which verses have the same meaning in the 6,236 verses of the Book of Allah Only then are you on the right and ultimately true path in regards to this ONE AYAH only And even then, you cannot consider others completely false This is one matter The second matter is that these religious groups are all trees that are part of the vast garden of Islam Some people might like plums others might like grapes, another person might like apricots …. Every person has a right to rest under the shade of whichever tree he wishes And eat the fruit he/she prefers The orange tree cannot say, ‘I am the only tree in the garden” There is no one that can come up with a ruling about someone’s religion except our Prophet ﷺ So you are only a part of this religion You are part of this Islamic garden Welcome to the Islamic garden Welcome to the area inside the big fence of Islam Welcome to the cloak of Islam that is big and fits everyone So to say you are the Islam and others aren’t No brother! You are but a page in the vast collection of books of Islam Only then you would understand and accept others as we spoke before And then we start giving excuses to one another whenever we don’t agree upon matters
Dealing with Differences | Questions with Dr. Omar Abdel Kafi
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