ALL PATHS LEAD TO GOD -- THE DIVINE PLAN

The question is:

Do all Paths lead to God?

Most religions in the world share the concept of one ultimate God. This is one of the proofs how mankind was blessed with Fitrah (true nature of believing in one God) as I wrote about it in my earlier post. Thus, God expresses Himself in all the religions and these religions are like rivers flowing towards the Sea. There is only one Creator and people look at Him from different perspectives and all Paths lead to Him in the end. It means all of us will return to Him.

I personally respect all religions in the world and I am never prejudiced against anyone on the grounds of faith. What I DO NOT respect is falsehoods, fabrications, myths, legends, injustice and lies, especially about the Originator of the heavens and the earth!!!

"Who can be more wicked than one who invents a lie against God, or say, "I have received inspiration", when he has received none, or (again) who say, "I can reveal the like of what God has revealed". [Quran 6:93]

The question should be:

Are all religions acceptable to God?

Do all Paths lead to salvation?

If you say yes then why did God send down Messengers and Books to guide people?

“And We bestowed upon him (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob, each of them We guided, and before him, We guided Noah, and among his progeny David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron. Thus do We reward the good-doers.

And Zachariya, and John and Jesus and Elias, each one of them was of the righteous.

And Ishmael and Elisha, and Jonah and Lot, and each one of them We preferred above the mankind and spirits (of their times)” [Quran 6:84-86]

What was the mission of these Prophets?

18. And this is in the Books of the earliest (Revelation),-

19. The Books of Abraham and Moses.
[Quran 87:18-19]

3. "It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong)." [Quran 3:3]

105. Before this We wrote in the Psalms, after the Message: My servants the righteous, shall inherit the earth."

106. Verily in this (Quran) is a Message for people who would (truly) worship God. [Quran 21:105-106]

What do these Books teach people?

How many generations has God destroyed after Noah and why?

"God puts forth a Parable- a man belonging to many partners at variance with each other, and a man belonging entirely to one master: are those two equal in comparision? Praise be to God! but most of them have no knowledge". [Quran 39:29]

Regarding Hinduism, polytheism and idolatry:

"(The Pagans), leaving Him, call but upon female deities: they call but upon the devil the persistent rebel!" 4:117

"O ye who believe! intoxicants and gambling, sacrificing to stones, and (divination) by arrows, are an abomination, ---of the devil's handiwork: eschew such, that you may prosper."5:90

"There came to you Moses with clear (signs) ; yet you worshipped the Calf (even) after that, and ye did behave wrongfully." 2:92

"Behold! he (Abraham) said to his father and his people, "What are these images, to which you are devoted?

They said," We found our fathers worshipping them ."

He said," Indeed you have been in manifest error---you and your fathers."21:52-54

Regarding Shintos and other shrine worshippers:

"Yet they make the spirits equals with God, though God did create the spirits; and they falsely, having no knowledge, attribute to Him sons and daughters, praise and glory be to Him! (for He is) above what they attribute to Him!" 6:100

"True, there were persons among mankind who took shelter with persons among the Spirits, but they increased them into further error." 72:6

Regarding those who worship celestial bodies:

"Hoopoe said (to Solomon), "I found her (the queen) and her people worshipping the sun besides God: the devil has made their deeds seem pleasing in their eyes, and has kept them away from the Path, ---- so they receive no guidance,---"27:24

Regarding those who believe in god-incarnation such as the Nation of Islam in America led by Louis Farrakhan:

"It is not (possible) that a man, to whom is given the Book, and Wisdom, and the Prophetic Office, should say to people: "Be you my worshippers rather than God's". On the contrary (he would say) : "Be you worshippers of Him (who is truly the Cherisher of all). For you have taught the Book and you have studied it earnestly.

Nor would he instruct you to take angels and prophets for Lords and Patrons. What! Would he bid you to unbelief after you have bowed your will (to God in Islam)?" 3:79-80

Regarding poets and philosophers:

"And the Poets,---it is those straying in Evil, who follow them:

See you not that they wander distracted in every valley?---

And that they say what they practised not?---" 26:224-226

Regarding apostasy:

"How shall God guide those who reject faith after they accepted it and bore witness that the Messenger was true and that Clear Signs had come to them? But God guides not a people unjust." 3:86

Regarding Deism:

"He (God) cannot be questioned for His acts, but they will be questioned (for theirs)." 21:23

Regarding the deviant Sufism which believes the Creator and the creation is one:

Say: "Who is the Lord and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth?"
Say: "God".
Say: "Do you then take (for worship) protectors other than Him, such as have no power either for good or for harm to themselves?"
Say: "Are the blind equal with those who see? Or the depths of darkness equal with light?"
Or do they assign to God partners who have created (anything) as He has created, so that the creation seemed to them similar?
Say: "God is the Creator of all things. He is the One, the Supreme and Irresistible." [Quran 13:16]

Regarding devil worship:

60. "Did I not enjoin on you, O you Children of Adam, that you should not worship Satan; for that he was to you an enemy avowed?-

61. "And that you should worship Me, (for that) this was the Straight Way?"
36:60-61

"The devil makes them promises, and creates in them false hopes, but his promises are nothing but deception."
4:120

Regarding atheism:

"Those who reject Faith, and die rejecting,--- on them is God's curse, and the curse of angels, and of all mankind." 2:161

Regarding those who take human beings for gods:

"Then he (Pharaoh) collected (his men) and made a proclamation,

Saying,"I am your lord, most high".

But God did punish him, (and made an) example of him,--- in the Hereafter, as in this life." 79: 23-25

Regarding the disbelievers among the Jews:

"We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of Messengers; We gave Jesus the son of Mary clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a Messenger with what you yourselves desire not, you are puffed up with pride? --- Some you called imposters, and others you slay (killed)!" 2:87

Regarding the disbelievers among the Christians:

"Certainly they disbelieve those who say: "(God) is Christ the son of Mary." But said Christ: "O Children of Israel! worship God, my Lord and your Lord." Whoever joins other gods with God,- God will forbid him the garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will be for the wrong-doers no one to help.

Certainly they disbelieve those who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them." 5:72-73

All of this clearly shows that not all Paths are equal.

19. The blind and the seeing are not alike;

20. Nor are the depths of Darkness and the Light;

21. Nor are the (chilly) shade and the (genial) heat of the sun:

22. Nor are alike those that are living and those that are dead. God can make any that He wills to hear; but you cannot make those to hear who are (buried) in graves. [Quran 35:19-22]

People are being ungrateful and unjust towards God by worshipping and listening to others besides Him. It is God Who created us and sustains us and He is the only One worthy of worship.

There are many religions in the world concocted by human beings in order to be separated and divided causing enmity, hatred and envy BUT there is only one religion acceptable to God and that one is the one which God Himself revealed through His Messengers from time to time.

It was part of His divine plan and wisdom  that with the passage of time, partly due to the new needs of the changing and developing times and climes, and partly due to the nullification and falsification of the earlier revelations by their followers, the series of the prophets and revelations continued until it was sealed with the advent of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the Quran and the series of revelations came to end.

There is only one religion. It was the religion conveyed by all the earlier Prophets, who were sent to preach the message of the revelation to their own people in accordance with the wisdom and justice of the Divine Plan to prepare the peoples of the world for the reception of the religion in its ultimate form as a Universal Religion at the hands of the last prophet, who was sent to convey the message of the revelation not only to his own people, but also to mankind as a whole. The essential message of the revelation was always the same: to recognise and acknowledge and worship the One True and Real God alone, without associating Him with any partner, rival, or equal, nor attributing a likeness to Him; and to confirm the truth preached by the earlier Prophets as well as to confirm the final truth brought by the last Prophet as it was confirmed by all the Prophets sent before him. God says:

"Today have I perfected your religion for you and have bestowed upon you the full measure of My Blessings and willed that Islam shall be your religion. [Quran 5:3]

Islam was the part of God’s Plan to mankind and every man and woman is obliged to go by this Plan to be loved and protected. As God says in the Quran:

5. "....and the angels celebrate the Praises of their Lord, and pray for forgiveness for (all) beings on earth: Behold! Verily God is He, the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

6. And those who take as protectors others besides Him,- God doth watch over them; and you are not the disposer of their affairs.

7. Thus have We sent by inspiration to thee an Arabic Quran: that you may warn the Mother of Cities and all around her,- and warn (them) of the Day of Assembly, of which there is no doubt: (when) some will be in the Garden, and some in the Blazing Fire.

8. If God had so willed, He could have made them a single people; but He admits whom He will to His Mercy; and the Wrong-doers will have no protector nor helper. [Quran 42:5-8]

See? The Angels pray for the well-being of all human beings and God admits whom He will to His Religion and He could have even made mankind a single people following none other than Islam but He wants to test us.

God sent Messengers to every nation, that they might worship Him and shun false deities. The last nation is this Muslim nation, and the last Messenger is Muhammad (peace be upon him). God sent him for the whole of mankind, the entire world, and thus abrogated the previous laws and made this religion the best and most perfect and complete. Hence it is obligatory for everyone to enter this religion, for God says:

"And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam (submission to God's Will), it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers." [Quran 3:85]

Islam is the gateway to peace and the solution to all evil only if one adheres to all its teachings with innocence and obedience. Become Muslim and you shall be of those who will follow the Believers through the Gates of Paradise.

Peace be upon those who follow the truth.

NOTE:

New content will be posted on Fridays.