Translate this page:

By Ijaz Chaudry

Difference between Santeria and Islam, Islamic point of view;

Santeria;

The religion focuses on building relationships between human beings and powerful, but mortal, spirits, called Orishas. An Orisha is a manifestation of Olodumare (God).

Islam;

Islam recognizes the fact that there are spirits which are called Jinn's in Arabic in the language the Quran was revealed.  Quran is the Final Testament from God.  Jinn's are part of the human being and are born when the human being dies.  The following verses are talking about Jinn's who is herder in a sense that eggs you on the devils path and also a witness (like conscious and sub-conscious and the sub-conscious would be Jinn);

[50:21]  Every soul comes with a herder and a witness.

[50:22]  You used to be oblivious to this. We now remove your veil; today, your vision is (as strong as) steel.

[50:23]  The companion said, "Here is my formidable testimony."

So how do we know the herder and a witness is the devil.  The following verse is talking about devil being companion of the disbelievers;

[43:36]  Anyone who disregards the message of the Most Gracious, we appoint a devil to be his constant companion.

When we add verses from (50:21) where the herder is described and (43:36) where the devil is the companion we get 21 + 36 = 57 which is 19 x 3 a complete multiple of 19 the miracle of the Quran.  Position 3 describes Principal or Rule clarified, thus here a rule is clarified in (50:21) with the help of (43:36) and the code (57).

 God tells us in the Quran that God pairs the humans with Jinn's according to what their intentions might be.  God knows our future and the past thus He can judge us and pair us accordingly;

[7:27]  O children of Adam, do not let the devil dupe you as he did when he caused the eviction of your parents from Paradise, and the removal of their garments to expose their bodies. He and his tribe see you, while you do not see them. We appoint the devils as companions of those who do not believe.

Since Jinn's preborn life is long (about 70 to 90 years an average human life expectancy) Jinn's live hundreds of years (this is God's grace to give them long life in order for them to redeem their Souls by becoming righteous and stop idol worship)but they die like humans.  Jinn's are invisible to humans but they can see us and they are more powerful than humans an example of their power is where Solomon asked a Jinn to bring Sheba's castle in a blink of an eye;

     Faster Than the Speed of Light

[27:38]  He said, "O you elders, which of you can bring me her mansion, before they arrive here as submitters?"

[27:39]  One a frit from the jinn’s said, "I can bring it to you before you stand up. I am powerful enough to do this."

[27:40]  The one who possessed knowledge from the book said, "I can bring it to you in the blink of your eye." When he saw it settled in front of him, he said, "This is a blessing from my Lord, whereby He tests me, to show whether I am appreciative or unappreciative. Whoever is appreciative is appreciative for his own good, and if one turns unappreciative, then my Lord is in no need for him, Most Honorable."

Muslims are told to stay well away from Jinn's because majority of Jinn's are not believers and they are used by men to breakup marriages.  Jinn's and Human's both will be judged on the Day of Judgment.  Worshiping Jinn's is common in the world but it is a great sin as well;

[6:128]  The day will come when He summons all of them (and says): "O you jinn's, you have claimed multitudes of humans." Their human companions will say, "Our Lord, we enjoyed each others' company until we wasted the life span You had set for us." He will say, "Hell is your destiny." They abide therein forever, in accordance with GOD's will. Your Lord is Wise, Omniscient.

[15:27]  As for the jinn's, we created them, before that, from blazing fire.

[6:100]  Yet, they set up beside GOD idols from among the jinn's, though He is the One who created them. They even attribute to Him sons and daughters, without any knowledge. Be He glorified. He is the Most High, far above their claims.

 As for thinking that Jinn is God, it is totally absurd.  God is more powerful and the Creator of the Heavens and Earth and Jinn's themselves, so there is no comparison between Jinn's and God;

[6:102]  Such is GOD your Lord, there is no god except He, the Creator of all things. You shall worship Him alone. He is in control of all things.

[36:81]  Is not the One who created the heavens and the earth able to recreate the same? Yes indeed; He is the Creator, the Omniscient.

Indeed both humans and jinns should worship God Alone

     The Purpose of Our Existence

[51:56]  I did not create the jinns and the humans except to worship Me alone.

Santeria;

 This is very much a mutual relationship as the Orishas need to be worshipped by human beings if they are to continue to exist.

Islam;

God tells us that the devil is a liar and a cheat;

[4:117]  They even worship female gods besides Him; as a matter of fact, they only worship a rebellious devil.

[4:118]  GOD has condemned him, and he said, "I will surely recruit a definite share of Your worshipers.

[4:119]  "I will mislead them, I will entice them, I will command them to (forbid the eating of certain meats by) marking the ears of livestock, and I will command them to distort the creation of GOD." Anyone who accepts the devil as a lord, instead of GOD, has incurred a profound loss.

[4:120]  He promises them and entices them; what the devil promises is no more than an illusion.

[4:121]  These have incurred Hell as their final abode, and can never evade it.

He is also called whisperer;

[114:4]  "From the evils of sneaky whisperers.

[114:5]  "Who whisper into the chests of the people.

[114:6]  "Be they of the jinn's, or the people."

He can and will whisper unsavory things in your ears which you start believing in.  Devil does not require for them to be worshiped to live, they only ask people to worship them because they are the enemy of God and would lead loads of people to idol worship them and end up in Hell;

[4:118]  GOD has condemned him, and he said, "I will surely recruit a definite share of Your worshipers.

Santeria;

Santeria has no scriptures and is passed on by word-of-mouth.

 Islam;

Islam believes in Scriptures the Torah, the Gospel and the Quran (The Final Testament) as they were revealed to the prophets.  The Torah and the Gospel are not the same as they were revealed to the prophets, because of lost documents, omissions, corruption and the authors were not the prophets;

[3:187]  GOD took a covenant from those who received the scripture: "You shall proclaim it to the people, and never conceal it." But they disregarded it behind their backs, and traded it away for a cheap price. What a miserable trade.

 However, the Quran was written by the prophet as it was revealed and has been passed from generation to generation in the same form;

[25:4]  Those who disbelieved said, "This is a fabrication that he produced, with the help of some other people." They have uttered a blasphemy and a falsehood.

[25:5]  They also said, "Tales from the past that he wrote down; they were dictated to him day and night."*

*25:5 Muhammad's contemporaries knew that he was a literate man who could read and write; he wrote God's revelations with his own hand.

[53:4]  It was divine inspiration.

[53:5]  Dictated by the Most Powerful.

 Quran is a proven word of God, not only the text is brilliant, it has a underling mathematical structure which no Jinn or Human can break;

     Mathematical Challenge

[2:23]  If you have any doubt regarding what we revealed to our servant, then produce one sura like these, and call upon your own witnesses against GOD, if you are truthful.

[2:24]  If you cannot do this - and you can never do this - then beware of the Hellfire, whose fuel is people and rocks; it awaits the disbelievers.

This article has direct reference to material on www.bbc.co.uk/religion.  Thus the paragraphs under the heading “Santeria” is from BBC.  Lot of effort has been taken to leave this material in its original form and minimize the amount of material in proportion to what BBC has put on their site.   This is done in compliance with Section 110 (5) of the Copyright Act 1976.