36. The ‘universal’ religion is not merely the religion that claims to be for all; it is the religion that claims that God has always been for all. There can be no Muslim ‘scandal of particularity’

Terms:

Scandal of particularity

Dr. David Adams defines it in his essay, “”The Anonymous God: American Civil Religion, the Scandal of Particularity, and the First Table of the Torah”

The scandal of particularity is a still broader notion, for it includes the understanding that God is at work is certain very specific times and places and ways to accomplish His will. The Christian faith is not a religion of spiritual truths, of moral or inner principles by which one ought to (or even may) live. It is the claim, radical in the ancient world and still more radical today, that God has reached into human history to do those things necessary to restore the relationship between Himself and us that our first ancestors shattered, and which still divide us from Him. This scandal of particularity is at the heart of the claims of the Bible to historicity, and make it fundamentally different from every other religion on earth.

What the Shaykh is highlighting with this contention is the ‘return to the truth’ aspect of the Islamic message, he then further contrasts it with the Christian ideology of ‘here is the truth’.

Islam is one of the few religions which understands that it’s understanding of God was the knowable ultimate truth from the creation of man. This is due to a few factors including the belief of a natural knowledge of God present within mankind, as well as the series of Prophet’s and Messengers sent throughout history.

Obviously, we Muslims believe that certain fundamentals of the Divine Law were different for each community (as each revelation was directed to that community), but we believe of the identity of God and fundamental trait of Oneness of God were present throughout all time, for all people to know.

In this way, Islam is a ‘universal religion’ that is described in the contention.

On the other hand, Christianity holds firm in the belief that the true nature of God (Trinity) was something inaccessible to man until the coming of Jesus (AS). Furthermore, according to Christians his ’sacrifice’ affected the nature of the relationship of God to mankind from that point forward. As a religious concept the ‘scandal of particularity’ keeps Christianity from legitimately existing amongst humanity before the coming of Jesus(AS).