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I do not believe that one religion, conventionally understood, is the only and complete truth to which others must be ‘invited’. Kindly comment on this.

According to Islam, God is one and also religion is one. According to the Quran, God Almighty sent His prophets to every nation and community. There was no difference between religions brought by different prophets. In terms of the past, this is the position of different religions. Muslims have been guided to believe in every prophet and the books they brought.

The Quran further guides us to the understanding that the teachings of other prophets and the books they brought were not historically preserved. While the Quran claims that it is a historically preserved book.

Being born seekers every person seeks the true faith. In this path of seeking he realizes that there are many different paths. This state of affairs compels the seeker to compare and then take a final decision. Islam lays down the principle that the basis for such a decision should be history. It considers the historical criterion as the rational criterion in this regard. As no prophet is alive today in the world, one can only make history the deciding factor for which path to follow.

To illustrate this matter, I will give an example. Dr. Nishikanta Chattopadhyay (1852-1910) was a Bengali scholar, born in Bengal and settled in Hyderabad towards the end of his life. He was a learned man who knew several languages. He studied many religions by applying the above historical criterion. He found that although many prophets came to the world, history tells that the books they brought have not been preserved. Dr. Chattopadhyay realized that there was only one exception in this matter and that was of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, who was born in 570 CE in Makkah and died in 632 CE in Madinah. Dr. Chattopadhyay discovered that Prophet Muhammad was the only historical prophet and the book that he brought is preserved to date without any changes. He has written about this in his book, Why I Embraced Islam? He remarked when he studied the life of the Prophet Muhammad: ‘What a relief to find after all a truly historical prophet to believe in!’

In the light of the above guidance from the Quran and the example of a seeker, it is a matter of conviction to the person who wishes to follow a chosen path.

As far as ‘inviting’ others is concerned, it is a natural desire of every person to present before others what one believes in. This is true not only in religion but in other secular concepts also. The only important thing to understand, is that one should invite people with beauty and wisdom and not try to enforce anything. According to the Quran, one is only asked to convey the message, and gives man total freedom to choose his action. A related verse says, there is no compulsion in religion.

The second important fact is to present the message with humility and not with a superiority complex. This is what can be called an intellectual exchange. Parting from such discussions will leave one enriched with different perspectives and a better understanding of points put forth by those engaged.