About the Editorial “Islam and the West – Some Differences” – Nov. 29, 2010
TMS PEACE JOURNALISM, 10 Jan 2011
Johan Galtung – TRANSCEND Media Service
Readers have kindly pointed out two unfortunate formulations.
The statement about stoning in Deuteronomy 22:21 should not be seen as Judeo-Christian even if found in the Old Testament in the Christian Bible, given how it is negated in the New Testament, John 7:53-8:11.
And then there is the Nabi vs. Rasul distinction; prophet vs. messenger. Many Muslims and scholars had been and were consulted, and here is one statement (from Abbas Aroua):
It is normal that you get different ideas, because there are various ways of distinguishing nabi and rasul by Muslim scholars. The one I feel happy with is the following:
First, in the Arabic Language: Nabii means Prophet whereas Rasul means Messenger, Envoy.
Second, in Religion: Nabii is the one who comes to remind people about a message they received and, with time passing, forgot about. Rasul is the one who comes to remind people about the previous versions of the message and bring an updated version of it (so a Rasul is also a Nabii)
For Muslims the books brought by Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and the many other messengers, are different versions of the same message.
With this definition, Moses (Musa in Arabic), Jesus (Isa in Arabic) and Muhammad are all both prophets and messengers (Nabii and Rasul).
One fundamental point in the Islamic credo is not to discriminate between the messengers of God.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 10 Jan 2011.
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