Page 362 - Christians Must Heed Jesus

Christians Must Heed
Jesus

However, a concept that is so completely transparent has been ex-
posed to misinterpretation by various evangelicals and opponents of
Islam. These people interpret this concept, which is set out so clearly
in the Koran, according to their own lights to mean "Muslims who
support peace build their whole lives around a lie and disseminate
that lie in order to deceive people." In fact, far from being a misinter-
pretation, this is an outright slander. The people who make this claim
are defaming Muslims by saying that "They advocate peace, but they
will sooner or later reveal their true faces and engage in slaughter."
Other opponents of Islam seek to distort the subject by saying, "They
may seem to support peace and freedom of ideas and belief, but they
will eventually seek to compel everyone to convert to Islam." This is a
huge error and deception.
First and foremost, true Muslims believe in and practice uncondi-
tionally what God reveals in the Koran. And what is revealed in the
Koran is love, peace, compassion and forgiveness. The sincerity that

lies at the essence of Islam is for the heart and the tongue to be as one.
Muslims therefore strongly avoid exhibiting any moral values outside
those of the Koran. In accordance with God's commands, they always
advocate peace, love, brotherhood and compassion.
As can be seen from the verse cited above, dissimulation means a
person under pressure saying the words that he is not a believer for
the purpose of escaping his predicament. It is most astonishing that
such a concept, which applies only to one special situation, which a
Muslim may never ever encounter, should be distorted and ascribed
to a Muslim's entire life. People who fall into this error are ignorant of
the true Islam and unaware that the moral values revealed in the Ko-
ran are based on sincerity and honesty. A Muslim cannot live a lie; that
is unlawful. A Muslim lives his whole life with the honesty that comes
from being a Muslim. He espouses peace and love, not out of dissim-

ulation, but because that is what God commands in the Koran.

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