The Bible and Christianity (an Islamic View)

Author’s Foreword

All the praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the Holy Prophet Muhammad and his Holy Progeny.

This book is a collection of discussions and dialogues held with Christians who had come to see me to enquire about Islam and, as a result of the guidance that emerged from the discussions, they embraced Islam.

In these discussions our chief aim has been to guide them to the right path, whether through intuitive or philosophical debates, or through preaching or calling them to Islam, or thorough dialectic arguments. However, every effort was made to avoid any controversy during these discussions, which might hurt the other party.

Throughout the discourse, I found an interesting thing, that not even one of them was an obstinate Christian to deny the truth after knowing it. This remained a redeeming factor throughout our discussions.

During a period of 15 years, specially after the coupe de tat of July 14 (1958 in Iraq), until I was exiled from Karbala (Iraq) to Kuwait in 1971, I held discussions and debates with hundreds of followers of different religions and ideologies such as Zaidites, Christianity, Sabe'ans, Yazidites, Ba’thists, Existentialists, and Communists, but did not come across any hot-headed or obstinate person except one who was a secretary-general of the Ba’thist Party in one of the provinces of Iraq, with whom discussions were held and he showed much obstinacy and stubbornness.

I had discussions concerning Islamic beliefs and laws with a large number of individuals and groups mostly of young people many of whom had, to varying degrees, some inclination towards Eastern or Western ideologies. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I had discussions with approximately ten thousand.

Sometimes I did come across stubborn individuals but their ratio may probably be four or five percent. However, in these encounters, I never came across prejudiced person who could present firm knowledge with convincing arguments. In fact, such persons normally used to stick to their beliefs, and arguments, and kept on insisting on them even though the bases of their religion and thought were uprooted.

It is much regrettable that I could not note down the details of these discussions, which would have made it a useful detailed book. All these discussions, conversations and meetings were held with different persons, and followers of various religions and creeds who either happened to see me by chance or were invited for discussions.

After the demise of grand Ayatollah Sayyid Abul-Hasan Isfahani (1356H, 1937 CE), and grand Ayatollah Sayyid Husayn Qumi (1366H, 1947 CE), the religious headship passed on to my father, grand Ayatollah Sayyid Mirza Mahdi Shirazi. Since then I continued to receive ambassadors, state representatives, ministers and political personalities who visited us in Karbala regularly. My late father used to discuss with them different religious topics, and throughout that long period and frequent meetings, I never felt helpless and unable to reply to any question. Most often we were successful in convincing others that the Islamic teachings are correct, that it is essential to implement Islamic laws in one’s life, and that Islam possesses the best solutions, teachings, and laws for the salvation of humanity.

I have presented in this book the debates that led to the conversion to Islam of ten Christians in seven narrations. I have described all events as they occurred without adding anything more except that I have deleted those parts, which have been repeatedly talked about on the Prophet of Islam and on the proofs of his prophethood.

The reader will observe the simplicity and introductory style of these dialogues that were actually conducted in this manner for the benefit of the addressees.

Let it not remain unsaid that most of the time I used to suggest to those who embraced Islam to adopt Islamic names, and also I used to arrange for them to remarry – as a precautionary measure – according to Islamic criteria for marriage.

I used to present them copies of the Holy Qur’an and other Islamic books. Our aim in this introduction is to point out that Islam has not been and will never be defeated in any field. Islam has no weakness or defect in its principles in any sense of word. There is no possibility that any religion may afford to lead mankind towards salvation better than Islam or even equal to it. If the people of the world knew Islam as it was revealed to and taught by the prophet Muhammad, they would race one another to embrace it wholeheartedly, save the stubborn and the narrow minded who are very few. This is a matter the importance of which I have personally experienced throughout my research work and discussions.

Muhammad Shirazi Islam – Christianity debates