SG responding to a debate to someone's comment on an email list: ...Allah or God or Krishna or Yayweh is not so narrow minded to ask his followers to kill non believers. I think this hatred against non believers and I remember seeing a verse in Quran about non believers going to hell fire may be just added for political reasons in Saudi Arabia. God is all loving and I don't see any reason on why he will give such kind of punishment to non believers or kufr.
My response:
In Surah Ahzab, the reason for judgement is given as follows:
[http://quran.com/33/72-73 translator: Pickthall]
Lo! We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the hills, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it. And man assumed it. Lo! he hath proved a tyrant and a fool. So Allah punisheth hypocritical men and hypocritical women, and idolatrous men and idolatrous women. But Allah pardoneth believing men and believing women, and Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
In Surah Yasin, the warning is reiterated:
[http://quran.com/36/60-63 translator: Pickthall]
Did I not charge you, O ye sons of Adam, that ye worship not the devil - Lo! he is your open foe! - But that ye worship Me? That was the right path. Yet he hath led astray of you a great multitude. Had ye then no sense? This is hell which ye were promised (if ye followed him).
In Surah Araf, we are reminded:
[http://quran.com/7/172-174 translator: Pickthall]
And (remember) when thy Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their reins, their seed, and made them testify of themselves, (saying): Am I not your Lord? They said: Yea, verily. We testify. (That was) lest ye should say at the Day of Resurrection: Lo! of this we were unaware; Or lest ye should say: (It is) only (that) our fathers ascribed partners to Allah of old and we were (their) seed after them. Wilt Thou destroy us on account of that which those who follow falsehood did? Thus we detail the revelations, that haply they may return.
SG response: This Sura 33/72-73 is almost identical to the commandment Moses have to his followers. This is similar to "Thou shall not worship Idols". I just want to say that this commandment is only applicable to Jews, Christians and Muslims. In one of the ancient Upanishads (revelations of God to great sages) God has given instructions on how he can be worshipped in a physical form made out of a stone, metal or a wood. In the famous temple of puri God is carved in a wooden form. I don't see it nothing as Idol worship here. It is god's instruction in very ancient times to worship him in this wooden form. So this instruction of Surah punishing idolatrous men and women have to be carefully analyzed. In fact this very instruction of Quran is responsible for destruction of so many temples by Aurangzeb in India bringing direct conflict with Hindus in ancient times. Less powerful kings kept quiet and more powerful kings fought against him.
My response:
I had quoted Quran verse 33:72 in response to your following comment: "... I remember seeing a verse in Quran about non believers going to hell fire may be just added for political reasons in Saudi Arabia. God is all loving and I don't see any reason on why he will give such kind of punishment to non believers or kufr."
Quran 33:72 states that the reason why humans must be judged is because humans undertook a certain responsibility: "Lo! We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the hills, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it. And man assumed it. Lo! he hath proved a tyrant and a fool."
Please note that God is going to judge and reward/punish in the Hereafter. These verses are not giving the license to anyone to judge or punish anyone on Earth. They are simply informing the reader that even though humans do not have enough knowledge of the unseen nor memory of what went before being sent on Earth, rest assured that there is no injustice being done. Human chose to bear the Trust and its a consequence of that that humans must be judged and recompensed for their performance in the life on Earth.
I'm surprised to learn from your email that in the Upanishads it is permissible to worship god in physical form, while, according to the research of Dr. Zakir Naik, the Vedas strictly forbids any image of God.
i. Yajurveda Chapter 32, Verse 3 It is mentioned in Yajurveda “na tasya pratima asti” “There is no image of Him”
Is not the Vedas more sacred than the Upanishads, and the teachings of the Vedas most sacred of all Hindu teachings?
Link to Dr Zakir Naik's 'Similarities between Islam and Hinduism:
The page from where I've quoted Yujurveda 32:3
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