When a Roman Catholic scholar involved in the Dead Sea Scrolls Project discovers a heretical message contained in one of the Scrolls he hides it. Decades later, a prominent archeologist discovers reference to the scroll in an archeological dig. This discovery spurs the world religions into a dangerous game of cat and mouse, in which all who seek the hidden scroll are mysteriously silenced, leaving the salvation of humankind to a father and son, who must either find the hidden scroll … or die trying.
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Q & A With Dr. Laurence Brown

A brother living in North America emailed me that he has found himself challenged by the arguments of the Atheists to the point where he feels he is losing his faith. He is struggling, but he is tormented by his fear of losing faith. Family members have read Qur'an over him, but to no avail. What can he do?

My answer: If reading Qur'an or having Qur'an read over you hasn't changed anything, your problem is probably not hassad (evil eye). Rather, you are suffering through the same philosophical issues that have tormented many sincere believers over time. So, the bad news is that these issues really do torment a true believer, but the good news is that they only torment a TRUE believer. See what I mean? If you weren't a true believer these arguments would not torment you. If you were weak in faith or deficient in emaan, you would have thrown your Islam away by now. The fact that you haven't done that indicates that you have true love of Allah and true emaan inside you, but you are struggling against the arguments of the disbelievers. Well, welcome to the club!!! All true believers struggle to explain Islam to the disbelievers. But here is the key thing that you need to understand -- most of Islam IS unseen. Islam CANNOT be proven in the way the atheists and rationalists "prove" things. Emaan (belief) is something Allah places in the hearts of those He loves, and true believers CANNOT guide those for whom Allah has written disbelief. The fact that most disbelievers do not come to Islam does not mean your arguments are wrong, it only means Allah has not written Islam for those people. Likewise, the fact that it is difficult to counter the disbelievers' so-called 'rational' arguments does not mean they are right, just that these are issues that cannot be resolved through rational argument. 


Think of it like a headache. If I have a headache, how can I convince you? I might try to show my pain, but for all you know, I could be faking it. You might call me a liar and tell me you won't believe in my headache until I show it to you, or explain where it came from. But there is no way I can do those things, despite me knowing very well that my headache is real. No matter how hard I grimace and complain, I cannot show you my headache. Well, our religion is something like this example. So much of Islam is unseen -- Allah, the angels and jinn, the Hereafter, Heaven, Hell, Qadr, Emaan, etc. If you have belief, you cannot show or prove your faith to others. All you can do is invite them to true faith, lay out the arguments as best you can, and then see if Allah guides them. Understand that few will follow, and the majority will not. Also understand they will try to misguide you. However, if your emaan is strong enough, as is the case with a headache, they will not be able to convince you that it is not real. 

So, to summarize, you need to leave the arguments of the disbelievers and strengthen your emaan. The fact that you are agonizing over this issue basically proves that you are two things: 

1) human, and troubled by our human weaknesses and 

2) a good muslim at heart, but nonetheless one who needs to strengthen his belief as well as his Islamic understanding in order to safeguard his religion. But take care. If you persist upon listening and engaging in argument with the disbelievers, they can weaken or destroy your faith. Allah tells us to leave talks in which He is being disparaged or in which His religion is being disparaged. Learn to walk away from it. So start by leaving the websites and arguments that have brought you to this crisis, and turn to reading EVERYTHING on my website, http://www.realityofgod.com/. Then, watch my videos on the multimedia page of LevelTruth.com.

And lastly, contact me as needed to both tell me how you're doing, and in case you have any questions. And remember, as the prophet taught us, Islam came as a stranger and will return as a stranger, so give good tidings to strangers. Yes, you are strange (as are all true believers) in the society you are living in. But please understand that this is a sign that you are among those to whom the good tidings of true belief are due.

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