Re: on original sin

I would agree that shahadah and baptism are analogous . . . if it's agreed 
that the similarity is that they both have a function roughly of being an 
official ritual that makes one's introduction into her faith.

YUSUF ALI translates  2:138 as :"(Our religion is) the Baptism of Allah: 
And who can baptize better than Allah? And it is He Whom we worship." While 
Shakir translates it as "(Receive) the baptism of Allah, and who is better 
than Allah in baptizing? and Him do we serve."

Definitely cited out of context but still useful for illustrating the idea 
that the religion, itself, is a(n) (constant) emersion . . . or at least 
that was the interp my dad gave me when he cited it after  we had one of 
those "this christian girl argued me down at school daddy . . . how come 
our religion doesn't have baptism?"

Ok so it wasn't that wimperingly but we did but heads and it made me wonder 
so I went to dad. Now this interp is actually different from the "official 
ritual into" idea but it was for me yet another way, when I was in high 
school, of understanding and appreciating my faith . . . and check it out, 
I remembered it all these years!

The "immersion" idea comes from the fact that baptism comes from greek 
meaning the same thing. I saw a site (link below) that compared it to 
ablution but I wouldn't have made that connection juts because ablution is 
a regular practice where as ablution and shahadah are more rare (though we 
do repeat it regularly for reminders in prayer, the "intro" w/witnesses and 
all doesn't happen so often, depending on how you practice).

<http://www.islamonline.net/fatwa/english/FatwaDisplay.asp?hFatwaID=7337>

Gotta motor!
-Moo  :)


--On Friday, February 06, 2004 3:57 PM -0500 [email protected] wrote:

> original sin is a catholic concept, and the absolution for
> it is baptism, which is the closest thing i can think of to the shahada -
> it is a joining of the faith.  (in catholicism, confirmation is the
> commitment, as you pass puberty, to serve god in your adult life.  maybe
> this is like shahada part two.)