Epigraph:

Allah it is Who has sent His Messenger, Muhammad, with the guidance and the Religion of Truth, that He may cause it to prevail over all religions, even if those who associate partners with God do not appreciate. (Al Quran 61:9)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

There are several verses in the Quran talking of victory of Islam. But the Muslims have never understood or conceptualized these properly, merely in self-serving parochial ways.

There are more than 300,000 churches in USA. When Muslims build a mosque any where in USA, and a dozen people start praying there, many of them think this is victory of Islam or spread of the Islamic message in the West.

I am afraid it is not so.

Most of the mosques like the churches are empty and devoid of attendees especially the youth.

To me the victory of Islam, promised in the Quran, is not political but merely of its principles. There are so many Muslim majority countries with Muslims governing them, yet a large majority there is dying to migrate to the West.

Demonstration of family values and living a happy family life is victory of Islam.

People realizing that they do not need priesthood and everyone has a direct connection with God, is victory of Islam.

People living a chaste life is victory of Islam.

People of all faiths realizing the risks of alcohol and gambling is victory of Islam

Good governance anywhere is victory of Islam.

People thinking and living by reason rather than dogma and preconceived ideas is victory of Islam.

People of all faiths giving up racism is victory of Islam. Theocracy of Iran is not a victory of Islam. Theocracy of Saudi Arabia and now their moving away from it since the new Crown Prince is not victory of Islam. Please find an Urdu speaker to translate this short video for you:

Last month, Pew Research Center released a study exploring how the religious composition of the United States might change by 2070. One of the conclusions that drew widespread attention is that Christians – who constituted 64% of the nation’s population in 2020 – may no longer be the majority five decades from now. But the future course of Christianity in the U.S. is not set in stone and the point of the projections is not to predict the demise of religion in general or Christianity in particular.

Looking at the experience of 80 countries, we find that the share of people who were raised as Christians and switch away from Christianity has not risen much above 50% anywhere, even in highly secular Western European countries. For American Christians concerned about the future of U.S. religious composition, the experience of other countries may offer some helpful context. A new blog post takes a closer look.

We can outsource teachings of Islam to agnostics, Christians and atheists: If the Atheists and the Christians Debate, Islam Wins!

Half-baked Muslim preachers are not victory of Islam. They only impress those already convinced and converted.

We need the message to be conveyed by those who can connect with the local Western audience better:

In the new study quoted above, Pew projects that in 2070, Christians will likely make up less than half the US population.

Currently, 64 percent of people say they are Christian, but nearly a third of those raised Christian eventually switch to “none” or “nothing in particular,” while only about 20 percent of those raised without religion become Christian. If that ratio of switching continues at a steady pace, then in roughly half a century, only about 46 percent of Americans will identify as Christian.

If the rate of switching continues to accelerate, as it has since the 1990s, the percent calling themselves Christians will drop to 35.

The rate of change could also slow down. “Trends don’t tend to continue forever,” Kramer said, “and there’s probably a core of Christians who are committed and never going anywhere.” If the future takes that path, Pew predicts slightly less than 40 percent of the population will say they are Christian in 2070.

“While the scenarios in this report vary in the extent of religious disaffiliation they project,” the study says, “they all show Christians continuing to shrink as a share of the U.S. population, even under the counterfactual assumption that all switching came to a complete stop in 2020.”

Few of the people leaving Christianity appear to be joining other religions. In America today, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and all non-Christian faiths account for about 6 percent of the population. There isn’t enough information for researchers to isolate differences between these groups. They project that, overall, non-Christian faiths will double in America by 2070, mostly by having children and raising them in the religion.

The dramatic change, according to Pew, will come with the “nones.” People who say they don’t have a religious identity—though many still embrace some Christian beliefs and engage in various spiritual practices—are projected to rise from about 30 percent today to as much as 52 percent in 50 years.

If the Muslim communities want to see greater influence of Islam in the West, we need to give up our other obsessions and sectarian passions in favor of interacting with “nones,” with greater frequency and better approaches. As decades role many of these ‘none,” will be coming from the Muslim background and more than a loss, they can be an asset to engage with the broader society at large.

I conclude with a short, suggested reading:

A Nobel for Karen Armstrong will bring the Christians and the Muslims closer

Reading the Quran with Sir David Attenborough

A Slight Twist Makes David Attenborough a Great Teacher for God of the Abrahamic Faiths

Video: Is Jesus God? – Dr. Jerald F. Dirks

Refuting William Lane Craig’s: ‘The Birth of God’

‘Historic break’: Church-goers now a minority in Germany