Muslim Christian Dialogues

by H.M. Baagil

C. Why have there been in the last decade many discussions held between Christians and Muslims about their beliefs?


M. I think because we both have several things in common. We believe in the One Creator Who sent many Prophets and in Jesus as the Messiah as well as the Word of God who was denied by the Jews.


Our Holy Qur'an mentions in Surah 3:45:
[Remember] when the angels said: 'O Mary! Verily Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word from Him, his name will be Messiah Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and in the hereafter, and of those who are near to Allah....'


Dialogues have been held everywhere in Europe, Canada, the United States, and Australia. Even the Vatican has participated: discussions were held between Vatican theologians and Egyptian Muslim scholars in Rome in 1970 and in Cairo in 1974 and 1978. Another series of discussions between Vatican theologians and Saudi Arabian Muslim scholars was held in Rome in 1974. Muslims have also been invited by many churches to present Islam.

Genres: Islam

78 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2000

Reviews

[noname noname · Rating 3 out of 5]

i am a muslim, and i have wished if the christian guy had read the Qur'an so the dialog would be more in balance. the Qur'an has also many verses that could seem in contradiction(as any holy book), but only to people with less knowledge ... i wanted that so the dialog would be more fair to Christians and also challenging to us Muslims, so we can understand more our faith. In the end i believe that faith is something God gives to people depending to their specific lives ...
Anyway, i didn't finish reading the booklet, but i learned a lot, and of course how much i do not know about both christian and muslim faith...

[Ming Chen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not good. I read this as an evangelical Christian trying to gain insight into Islamic apologetics. To give a few examples of obvious errors, the author thinks that "all nations" in Matthew 28:19 is referring to the 12 tribes of Israel, failing to realise that Jesus qualified that in the very next words by saying "and to the ends of the earth", which would obviously not be restricted to the 12 tribes. The author also thinks that John 1:1 teaches that there are two gods, and based on how he characterised the Christian as responding (the book was in the form of a Christian and Muslim dialogue, leading to straw men), he thought that Christians would agree with this or some other form of polytheism. Traditional orthodox Christianity holds to monotheism.The author also uses OT prophecy talking about "peace" and teaches that it is prophesying about Islam bringing peace. This reasoning is flawed: a shared word in two different scenarios does not establish any relation between these scenarios. He uses the phrase "new song" and claims that this was talking about the Muslim practices conducted in Arabic. I could go on.

The sad part is that Muslims, like the ones I have talked to, consider this reasoning sound and an irrefutable demonstration of Christianity's falsity. So, the Christian response should not be one of ridicule or condescension, but of gracious refutation and Gospel invitation.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Muslim that knows a lot about both Islam and apparently the Bible, goes into a dialogue with a Christian that seemingly knows the Bible but turns out he is clueless - so he is an easy convert to Islam and gives very little food for thought for Christians who know their stuff. I mean, non-educated Christians could even be swayed, but the author does heavily lean on the fact that he knows more and that he knows the exact counterpoints and how to argue for Islam in this context. This is not dialogue.

It is also noteworthy that the author often relies on the Jehovahs Witness version of the Bible because it is closer to the Muslim interpretation of Christ, and thus it is easy to argue against normal Christianity with another translation. It is too lightweight of an Islamic apologetic, and needs an editor and a real scholarly approach, but then it would be much more difficult to make a "approachable" booklet like this.

[Talib Faridy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book explain the paradoxical nature of holy bible and indoctrination of church,I am giving this book a one star less because it's short,no offence to author. But I always love to read books in depth with higher number of pages,by the way kudos to the author and friend for the content of this unique book. If you like this review do leave a like 😁😁😁😁😁😁

[Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had some very interesting insights on what Muslims believe about the Bible and they talk about some inconsistencies in the Bile which I never knew and it sights the Chapters and scriptures where some of the inconsistencies occur. I learned some new things.

[Zakaria Fessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a must read book , it was just amazing , i've learn from it more i could ever imaging .
this book will stay one of the best books i have ever read

[Jemal Negash · Rating 5 out of 5]

must read book

[Bekar · Rating 4 out of 5]

« Dialogue entre un musulman et un chrétien » dans ce livre Dr. Baagil ouvre le débat sur le christianisme et nous montre que non seulement les chrétiens divergeaient dans leurs croyances de base (Trinité, Divinité de Jésus, etc.), mais qu’ils ignoraient également que la doctrine de l’église contredit maintes fois la Bible et que la Bible se contredit elle-même. Et Parce que nous ne pouvons pas mener de telles études, il serait sans doute approprié de lire cet ouvrage (et les ouvrages de mm nature) et de les analyser avec un esprit ouvert, sans idées préconçues.

A propos des personnages du livre, j'ai voulu que le gars chrétien ait lu le Coran de sorte que le dialogue serait plus en équilibre. Le Coran a aussi de nombreux versets qui pourraient sembler en contradiction (comme un livre saint), mais seulement pour les personnes ayant moins de connaissances ... je voulais que le dialogue serait plus juste pour les chrétiens et aussi un défi pour nous, musulmans, de sorte nous pouvons mieux comprendre notre foi.
j'ai appris beaucoup de choses, et bien sûr combien je ne sais pas à propos de la foi des chrétiens.

Je vois que tous les chrétiens ainsi que les Juifs devraient lire ce livre pour connaître la vérité avant qu'il ne soit pas trop tard.

[Ahmed Khairy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is always good to have a dialogue, this shall break the ice and provide a better understanding for various doctrines and beliefs. The author has a case to present, but the thing that I didn't like is that the author volunteered to provide questions to answers he has, I think it would be better to present what he wanted to without giving questions.
The book is fine overall giving certain references in the bible with different understanding to each of them, this understanding (explanation) was based on other references from the bible as well.
The author spots the light on the common ground between the Muslims and the Christians which forms a great start point for effective useful peaceful dialogues.

[Lazarus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow...Baagil does the ultimate disservice to his discourse by creating, in the Christian, the proverbial straw man. The Muslim dominates all aspects of this obviously fictional dialogue and the effect hurts the cause. If one boxer dominates another, he is cherry picking. But if he challenges himself by facing an opponent on his level or above, even if he loses he is lauded. Why is Baagil making a case for his beliefs to himself? The attempt to strengthen his view, weakened it......in my opinion. (1984)

[Maham :3 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot of things about the Bible and the Quran from this book. It gave clear verifications of similarities and dissimilarities between these two holy scriptures.

A necessary read for those who seek the truth.

[Muhammad Elasy]

I see that all Christians as well as Jews should read that book to know the truth before it's too late