There are thousands of religions in the world. Which one is true?

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DISCLAIMER: The content of this article could challenge the beliefs of the reader, trigger strong emotions, irritate him or her. There is no intention to insult or disrespect anyone’s beliefs, but solely and unapologetically the quest for objective truth using the innate and universal gifts of logic (reasoning) and common sense. The reader might want to avoid reading this article. In any case, he or she should proceed with caution.

According to Cambridge Dictionary, religion is “the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship”. More simply, we can define religion as a way of life guided by our beliefs. This helps explain why there are thousands of religions in the world, and in a sense, everyone has a religion (whether organized or personal), as everyone lives according to certain beliefs they hold.

Since there are thousands of religions and ways of life in the world, a big question we should ask ourselves is: “Are all religions and philosophies of life true?” To answer this question, we need to establish first if objective truth exists or not. Objective truth means that that which is true is always true even if we stopped believing it; it is independent of people, their beliefs, the working of their minds[1]. A claim is objectively true if it is true even when considering it outside the viewpoint of a sentient being [2].

If we assume that objective truth and by extension objective morality don’t exist and all we have is subjective truth and subjective morality, then for someone, it might be true that a man can give birth to a baby. Most people would object to this and say that it’s observed that only women give birth. However, in a worldview where objective truth doesn’t exist, the person would be (subjectively) right and no one would be able to refute their claim. For some other person, raping and abusing people might be morally right. Again, most people would say that this is wrong. However in a worldview where objective morality doesn’t exist, the person who thinks raping and abusing people is right would be (subjectively) right and no one would be able to refute them. Without objective truth there is no good or bad, there is no right or wrong, there is essentially no truth at all.

The previous thought experiments show that human beings have an innate understanding of objective truth and they have intellectual faculties that allow them to reason and make sense of things. That’s why most people would agree that only women give birth; that raping, abusing people, stealing and killing unjustly… is wrong. Therefore, human experience indicates that objective truth and objective morality exist. For example, “a human being will inevitably die one day” is an objective truth. Nobody would ever deny that all human beings are mortal. Furthermore, the existence of objective truth necessitates that it comes from outside of the human experience, from an “objective” source.

Due to the fact that objective truth exists and all religions and ways of life contradicts one another (they are mutually exclusive), we conclude that they can’t all be true. Either all religions and philosophies of life are false, or only one of them is objectively true and gives us the right answers to the existential questions we ask ourselves and the proper way to live our lives. If you do not care about truth and specifically objective truth, then this investigation is not for you, and you may as well stop reading this article. However, if you value objective truth — as any intellectually sane person should — then please continue reading.

A follow up question would be: “How do we know what we are following is objectively true? How do we find the right religion to follow and that gives us the true answers to our existential questions?” This is about identifying the tools we use to reach objective truth. In science (which assumes the existence of objective, independent truth), determining the validity of a theory is accomplished through making predictions and then devising tests to see if those predictions come true. If they do, then the theory gains support; but if they don’t, then the theory now has evidence against it. The tests will either succeed or fail regardless of what the researchers believe [1].

Thus, to find the objective truth about something, we cannot rely solely on our emotions and feelings because they are subjective and can blind our judgement. Subjective experiences are different from person to person. The experiences of somebody are not necessarily those of another person. So, what could be a subjective truth for someone might not necessarily be the truth for someone else. Also, our individual subjective experiences can be illusions generated by our minds. Maybe someone is hallucinating and they believe what they see is real while it is only a trick from their mind.

Every human being has an intellect, can reason, and make sense of things. Descartes said: “Common sense is the most widely shared thing in the world (…), what is called common sense or reason is naturally equal in all men (…)” Certain things commonly and naturally make sense, they are self-evident. That’s why logical thinking (reasoning) and common sense are good tools to base our quest for the truth upon.

Moreover, we know as human beings that we didn’t create ourselves and as intelligent beings we do things for a reason. If we are created by a creator, he must have created us for a reason (our existence must have a purpose), because it would make no sense if that creator who would logically be more intelligent than ourselves did something purposeless. It is the one who made a device that can tell why he made it. If we had a creator who created us, he would be the one to design the true religion or way of life for us. The true religion from our creator would objectively be the only one to tell us about our true purpose; to give us a holistic way of life, a deep relationship with our creator, a clear view of life, objective morality, a framework or a detailed map to follow in other to live in line with the purpose of our existence and according to the will of our creator who alone would know what is best for us. In contrast to false religions and imperfect man-made ideologies and philosophies that will take one sooner or later to their loss and doom, one day dragging them into this direction and the next day into another direction, the true religion designed and chosen for us by our creator would keep one firm like a deeply grounded tree, steadfast with clarity and in the right direction, on the straight path.

Therefore, to “know what we are following is objectively true, find the right religion to follow and that gives us the true answers to our existential questions” we need to establish that we have a creator, and prove that what we are following or seeking to follow comes from that creator. We do that while looking at our current beliefs and their sources with a critical eye, and that of others with an open mind.

We will go through logical steps to find the true religion.

1.God’s existence

Using logic (reasoning), common sense and our natural disposition (al-fitrah), one can conclude that God exists (see “God’s existence” [3]) and possesses power, knowledge, will… Some religions or ways of life (like Buddhism, Confucianism, Jainism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Naturalism, Skepticism…) don’t have the concept of God, Creator of all existence, or they don’t really talk about it. Thus, those religions and ways of life can easily be eliminated.

2.Oneness of God

Having concluded the absolute Oneness of God, i.e. God is One and Unique, unlike the universe and created things, He alone has maximally perfect qualities (All-Powerful, All-Knowing, Self-Sufficient, etc.), He is the only One worthy of worship _pure monotheism_ (see “Oneness of God” [3]), among the religions that have a concept of God [3], we discard all polytheistic religions and ways of life that believe God is part of creation, idols can be worshiped such as Hinduism, Paganism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Pantheism.

3.Revelations and Prophets from God

Realizing that because God exists He must have communicated with us, He must have sent us guidance in form of revelation (to tell us about where we come from, the meaning and purpose of life, where we are going after death) with prophets that would teach us how to apply the revelation in our lives (see “Revelation, Prophethood” [3]), we can discard all religions and philosophies that believe God doesn’t interact with His creation, that don’t have a book (revelation from God), that don’t believe in prophets of God [4]. Thus, religions and philosophies such as, Caodaism, Deism, Nihilism, Ietsism are ruled out. We are most likely left with the 3 major religions in the world that claim to be monotheistic, have revelation from God and prophets of God: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. For any religion or way of life, that holds a source of guidance or scripture, we must be able to ascertain its scope (whether it’s for all human beings or a specific people) and its reliability.

4.Universality, Reliability, Coherence, Inimitability, Evident proofs

For any monotheistic religion or way of life that holds a source of guidance or scripture, we must be able to ascertain its scope (whether it’s for all human beings or a specific people), the reliability of its sources, the coherence of its teachings, its inimitability, and whether it provides evident proofs for its truthfulness.

Pertaining to the scope, as we know God Almighty is One and Just, the religion revealed by Him must be universal and equally accessible to all human beings in true justice, because it would make no sense for a person to adopts a religion that doesn’t even claim to be for them. Once we confirm the religion to be for us, we could look into the reliability of its texts, the coherence of its teachings, its inimitability, and the additional proofs of its truthfulness. As for the reliability, the scripture of the religion should be preserved so that we know its teachings are authentic, because we might end up following something completely alien to the religion we intended to adopt in the first place. As for the coherence, we are rational beings and if God revealed to us a religion, it should have a coherent belief system, core doctrines that make sense to us; it shouldn’t have contradictory teachings. God being One and Unique, the religion He reveals to us must also be one and unique, something that no one could replicate. Finally the true religion from God should be able to provide evident proofs for its truthfulness such as prophecies, miracles, etc.

Judaism

What we find is that from the 3 religions mentioned previously that claim to be monotheistic, one doesn’t claim to be universal, that is Judaism. In the core of Judaism, to be a true Jew, you need to be a Jew by blood (your mother has to be Jew). Some people might convert to Judaism, but they won’t have an equal status as a born Jew. Judaism is not universal; it is limited to a set of people.

We also notice that the Jewish scriptures are not reliable sources because there is a non-preservation of the teachings of the prophets in Judaism, the Jewish Scriptures have no unbroken chain of transmission going back to the prophets, they contain contradictions, errors, they have many unknown authors, they were edited/altered, etc.

The Jewish beliefs are also not coherent. For example, Judaism is not purely monotheistic, we notice some aspects of polytheism in Judaism [Exodus 15:11, Psalms 82:1, 86:8, 45], a deficient concept of God (God resting, God being defeated by a human being in a fight, people debating with God and winning…)

The Jewish Bible also contains false prophecies such as the false prophecy of the destruction and desolation of Egypt [Ezekiel 29:9–15].

We can therefore easily remove Judaism from the equation, and we are left with 2 religions: Christianity and Islam.

Christianity

Christianity claims to be a universal religion. However, if Jesus were truly the founder of Christianity (which he is not as demonstrated in this article[5]) then Jesus didn’t come for to the whole humanity because he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel [Matthew 15:24] and he commanded his disciples not to go to the Gentiles, the Samaritans, he commanded them to only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel [Matthew 10:5–7]. So, it is the people who founded Christianity who made it “a universal Judaic religion”.

The Bible which is the “holy” scripture of Christianity is not reliable. The Bible doesn’t have any reliable chain of transmission going back to the prophets, it contains errors and contradictions, it has been changed, it hasn’t been preserved (see this article[5]).

The belief system in Christianity is not coherent and Christians even hold beliefs that are nowhere to be found in their Bible (see this article[5]):

• Trinity, divinity and sonship of Jesus: When we scrutinize the trinity, we find that the concept doesn’t make sense, the divinity and sonship of Jesus fail to be correct. In Christianity, the concept of God is deficient: God who is supposed to have perfect attributes is found lacking them. Christianity has polytheistic beliefs. Orthodox Christianity calls people to worship a human being (Jesus) instead of God Almighty.
• Crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus: When we study the alleged crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, a major core doctrine of Christianity, we find that it doesn’t pass the scrutiny. That event is not historical, there are plenty of contradictions in the reports from the anonymous writers who were not even eyewitnesses, no prophet (even Jesus) ever taught about it.
• Salvation: The concept of salvation through the sacrifice/suicide of an innocent human/god in Christianity is very problematic. It doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t reflect God’s Justice and Fairness. It doesn’t depict God as Merciful and Loving and it implies God cannot simply forgive. It is even qualified as satanic by God in the Bible.

On top of the unreliability of the Bible, we also have an unreliability of the Church. We can’t trust the church of any denomination in Christianity (see this article[5]) as it’s the church that came up with the ungodly doctrines of Christianity supposedly through the holy spirit which is basically a made-up concept.

Christianity has false beliefs that are similar to other beliefs. For example, the concept of a god having children is found in pagan Greco-Roman religions, the incarnation of God is found in religions like Hinduism. Some Christians accept some books to be part of the Bible while others don’t, which shows that the Christian scriptures can be imitated by anyone (because essentially what Christians consider as scriptures are manmade writings falsely attributed to God).

Some proofs provided by Christianity struggle to be convincing. For example, the imminent return of Jesus [Matthew 16:28, 24:34, Mark 9:1], the “Sign of Jonah” and the timing of the resurrection [Matthew 12:40] are all false prophecies.

The accumulation of the previous evidence helps us rule out Christianity from the investigation and we are left with only one religion, that is Islam.

Islam

When we study Islam intellectually and objectively, we notice that it claims to be for all mankind [Quran 21:107, 34:28, 7:158]. We have tangible evidence for the reliability of the Quran and the Sunnah, we have tangible evidence for the truthfulness of prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The fundamental beliefs in Islam (as presented in this article [3]) and the teachings of Islam are coherent. God’s existence, God’s oneness and His maximally perfect attributes, Revelations from God, Prophets and Messengers from God, the concept of salvation, everything makes sense for a human being with a sound intellect and it is in tune with our natural predisposition to believe in God Almighty, submit to Him, worship Him alone and follow the guidance He sent us. Islam is also inimitable due to its unique combination of spiritual, moral, and social teachings. The Quran, which is the literal Word of God, is a linguistic and literary miracle, unmatched in its eloquence and depth. The life of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ serves as a model for ethical and moral conduct, providing a comprehensive guide for personal and communal life. Additionally, the principles of justice, compassion, and equity embedded in Islamic teachings encompassing all aspects of human life offer an unparalleled holistic approach to human existence. Islam also provides evident proofs such as the prophecies in the Quran and the Hadiths, falsification tests such as the challenge to produce something similar to at least one chapter of the Quran, etc.

Therefore, Islam stands out as the only true and pure monotheistic religion on the face of the Earth sent by God Almighty to all mankind.

It is objectively true that two times two is four, and a sincere person with a sound mind would recognize it, accept it and abide by it. Similarly, we have demonstrated that Islam objectively satisfies all conditions to be the sole religion sent by God Almighty to all mankind, Islam is objectively true, and therefore, a sincere person with a sound mind ought to recognize it, accept it and abide by it. We are then left with one simple and honest question to ask ourselves: “Will we acknowledge the truth, accept Islam, and become submitted Muslims to the will of God Almighty who created us? Or will we arrogantly reject the truth, reject God and refuse to follow the guidance He sent to us?”

This article is derived from the book The purpose of life: Islam explained with logic and common sense.

What is Da’wah ?

It is the collective obligation of the Muslim community to share, based upon correct knowledge and good manners, the message of Islam with Muslims and non-Muslims, and to invite them to the way of God (Islam), to know the truth, accept it and follow it for their own good. This is called Da’wah.

Da’wah involves teaching, communicating, engaging in dialogues, discussions and debates, writing books and articles, giving lectures, and more, all with wisdom, gentleness, and beautiful preaching, so that people may understand the oneness of God, the worship of God, who prophet Muhammad ﷺ is, and what Islam is, as expressed in the Quran and the Sunnah (the way of prophet Muhammad ﷺ), and that they may respond positively to the invitation to accept Islam. It is also about embodying the good conduct and practices of Islam, being a role model and a good example in the community, and being a witness of God Almighty among the people, which will inspire others to return to Islam. “When people see a Muslim, they should see a good person, a person of truth, of sincerity and of virtue. A Muslim’s life should be an open invitation through which people see the beauty of Islam and find it an interesting code of ethics and teachings to follow.”

Even if Da’wah is a collective obligation bestowed on the Muslims by God Almighty [Quran 2:143, 3:104, 3:110, 16:125, 41:33], and the prophet Muhammad ﷺ [Riyad as-Salihin 1380, Sahih Al-Bukhari 3461, Sahih Al Bukhari 3009, Sahih Muslim 2674], common sense dictates that if you care for people, no matter who they are, you would call them to what you believe is good for them, you would want for them the goodness that you want for yourself, and you would do your best to protect them from danger, whether they are aware of it or not, just as you would quickly pull a child’s hand away from a hot stove to prevent them from getting burned, whether the child likes it or not, or jump into a pool to rescue someone who is drowning, whether the person likes it or not, driven by an innate human sense of compassion and urgency. Thus, Muslims also do Da’wah because they care for others, they want goodness and Paradise for all; they don’t want Hellfire neither for themselves nor for others. Muslims do Da’wah because they believe that if everyone followed God’s teachings as detailed in Islam, it would benefit all mankind, we would have God-conscious and healthy societies.

With all the degeneracy and ills in the world today, and with the ongoing propaganda against Islam and Muslims aimed at pushing people away from the truth and the solutions to the world’s problems, it has become more important than ever for Muslims to devote their efforts to Da`wah with wisdom, mercy, compassion, patience, good preaching and sound arguments. It is not about forcing others to accept Islam, the duty is in clearly conveying the message of Islam and inviting people to accept it [Quran 2:256, 3:20, 5:92, 5:99, 16:82, 24:54, 29:18, 64:12]. No one can guide except God Almighty Who guides those who sincerely and humbly seek His guidance.

References

[1] A. Cline, “The Objective Truth in Philosophy,” Learn Religions. [Online]. Available: https://www.learnreligions.com/objective-truth-250549

[2] “Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy),” Wikipedia. [Online]. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjectivity_and_objectivity_(philosophy)#:~:text=Something%20is%20objective%20if%20it,it%20is%20labelled%20objectively%20true.

[3] Nabil Writes, What is the purpose of life?, https://medium.com/@nabilwrites/what-is-the-purpose-of-life-cc5231076645

[4] Naik, Zakir, Concept of God is major religions.

[5] Nabil Writes, Scrutinizing Christianity, https://medium.com/@nabilwrites/scrutinizing-christianity-deb8f629b080