No, it's not that simple. Here is another view from an Islamic Scholar who worked for Google Answers:
- not necessarily.
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting (and difficult) question. As with many religions the fundamentalist view is often "yes", anyone outside of Islam for whatever reason is doomed to hell according to the hard-line interpretations of the Qu’ran. Other more conservative opinions (and yes, there are conservative Muslims) would argue this point. With that said, the most accurate and widely accepted answer is “not necessarily” and here’s why:
According to Islamic teachings, any person who has been offered a true and complete understanding of Islam and knowingly rejects it, then dies without repenting, is destined for hell. You will note that the operative phrases here are “offered a true and complete understanding of Islam” and “knowingly rejects it”. This suggests that one must first HAVE an opportunity to embrace Islam and THEN, upon his or her own informed understanding, free will, and free choice refuse to embrace it before that person is at risk of condemnation on this basis.
The Qu’ran says:
[2:62] Surely, those who believe [in Islam], those who are Jewish, the Christians, and the converts; anyone who believes in GOD, and believes in the Last Day, and leads a righteous life, will receive their recompense from their Lord. They have nothing to fear, nor will they grieve.
Surah al-Baqarat verse 62
http://www.masjidtucson.org/quran/noframes/ch2.htmlThe widely accepted meaning of this (except among some hard line groups perhaps) is that people (note: "anyone") who have faith in God will be rewarded, even if they didn't convert to Islam, as long the reason they didn't convert is because they never had the opportunity to obtain “a true and complete understanding of Islam”, and as long as they obeyed what they DID follow what they sincerely believed was the law of God.
I’m not suggesting that YOU feel this way but it is interesting that a large portion of the non-Muslim population often sees Islam as some weird, barbaric, archaic cult that is bent on the destruction of Jews and Christians when in fact Muslims themselves view Islam as the completion, or the continuation to maturity of both Judaism and Christianity (in much the same way that Christians see the biblical New Testament as a matured form of Judaism; new laws, new covenant’s etc.). Muslims actually believe that God revealed the Torah to Moses (yes, the same Moses) and also revealed the Gospel to Jesus (yes, they know and revere Jesus). Muslims believe that God revealed the Qu’ran to provide guidance in its complete and final form. Islam, in it’s most fundamental form, teaches that Judaism and Christianity both contain truth and are both based on revelations from God but it also teaches that followers of these religions have distorted the true faith with a mixture of God and man-made teachings and doctrines.
The majority of Muslims are not trying to send all non-Muslims to hell and most of them are not even trying to squeeze that translation out of various verses of the Qu’ran and propagate that teaching throughout the earth. In fact, the word “infidel”, commonly used nowadays (especially in the media) to describe ALL non-Muslims, is not even a Muslim (Arabic) word; it is a word that has its origins in Christianity and was used to describe – now brace yourself – NON-CHRISTIANS. That’s right. Because of it’s incorrectly presumed similarly in meaning, the Middle French word “infidèle” (from Latin “infidelis”) was the word chosen to translate the Arabic word “kafir”, a word used by the Qur'an to describe people who were guilty of rejection or non-acceptance of the truth. To this day the word “kafir” is still translated to the word “infidel” even though many Arabic speaking people never actually use it; they typically say “kafir” which is in turn often fed back to us in English as “infidel” (and to
heap ignorance upon ignorance we incorrectly assume this is a Muslim term used to describe someone who needs their throat cut for disavowing Islam – it’s just absolute nonsense).
ONLINE ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARY
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=infidelThere are actually many types of “kafir” (abstract noun “kufr”) in the Qu’ran.
WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafir#Q...nic_referencesThe actual translation of the word “kafir” (alt. Khafir) for the purposes of being apostate means “one who is enraged toward” (as in opposition to). Simply put, once cannot be enraged toward something he does not know.
So, here we’ve come full circle haven’t we? To be a “kafir” one must knowingly and knowledgably reject Islam and if one has not had the opportunity to learn then one cannot knowingly reject it. If one is not even a kafir he certainly cannot be described as an infidel, can he? Therefore the logical answer to your question, “Are all non-Muslims condemned to hell?”, the answer is “not necessarily”. All non-Muslims are not kafir and all kafir are not infidels.
If a person knowingly rejects Islam that has been intelligently presented to him, he will in all likelihood, according the Qu’ran suffer the fate of an apostate, which is damnation. If a person, by virtue of circumstance, misses the opportunity to embrace Islam or fails to embrace Islam because it was not adequately, accurately or completely presented to him, there is hope, according to the Qu’ran, that Allah will be merciful to him so long as he embraces God in the manner of his own understanding.
Is this in contradiction to other verses of the Qu’ran that speak of shirk? Well, herein lies the basis of dissent between interpretations (just as the Bible is widely and variously interpreted) and one could go on for a lifetime with this debate. It matters not that the hypothetical child was born of Muslim parents; in Islam all people are
viewed the same. In the Qu’ran (An-Nisaa' 4:48) the scripture says that Allah forgives “whom he pleaseth”, and herein (when taken with both Surah Al-Baqarah verse 62, and Surah al-Ma'ida verse 69) also lies the hope that those who are circumstantially ignorant to Islam will be saved.
Again, let me say that this, like the answer to your other question, is subject to interpretation. What I have offered you is a widely subscribed belief that can be debated depending on whom you wish todebate.
I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have any questions about my research please post a clarification request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga – Google Answers Researcher
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=786235I prefer this view.
Topic: Heaven or hell