Islam and Peace
Religious Harmony
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Such is God, your rightful Lord. That which is not
true must needs be false. How then can you turn
away from Him? (10:32)
This verse makes it clear that monotheism (i.e. one
Lord being the Creator, Sustainer and object of
worship) is the only truth. All other paths lead one
away from, rather than towards the truth. The fact
that certain religious thinkers believe in the
manyness of reality is of no concern to Islam. With
oneness as its ideal, it cannot accept manyness even
as a hypothesis.
Both of the above points – (a) the oneness of
Absolute Reality, and (b) Salvation as the
prerogative of the true believer in this oneness –
form a major part of Islamic ideal. Just being born
into a certain group or community, or associating
oneself with others of similar persuasions, does not
entitle one to salvation, be one a Muslim or a non-
Muslim.
Now let us deal with the fact that; in practice,
different kinds of religious groups do exist. Then,
given the various kinds of differences separating
