A General Comment Thank you for your web page. I found it this morning and am reading it with great interest. I found it while doing a search on information concerning the Gospel of Barnabas. Your artical on this non-canonical gospel is interesting. While I agree that Barnabas was a great leader in the early church, I am not convinced that he wrote the book. A lot of the evidence you present is taken from yet other non-canonical books. Unfortunately, the contents of these books are not consistant with the canon of Holy Scripture (and yes I realize that according to Barnabus, Jesus tells us the rabbis adulterated the Holy Scriptures to put a pro-Jewish slant on God). As you can probably gather, I am a Christian. I realize that there are a lot of misunderstandings and hard feelings between Christians and Muslims. This hurts me. I think it important that we understand each other and each other's views of God. As you probably know, many Christians are less than enlightened when it comes to Islam, viewing all Muslims as terrorists. I realize this is total nonsense. The few Muslims I have been privileged to meet were kind, gentle, loving people. I also realize that our Christian forebearers started a lot of the hard feelings with the Crusades, expulsions, inquisitions, and other horrible activities. These were wrong. Please forgive us. And just as it is wrong to judge all Muslims based on a few terrorists, please don't judge all Christians on what you see in the media (eg Christian President is a womanizer and perjurer). Those who take the name of Jesus Christ and live the life of Satan are not true followers and are in fact an embarrasment to us. I commend you for the studies you have obviously undertaken to understand us. I am attempting to do the same starting from the other side. I am fasting during Ramadhan for the first time in my life. I find that the fast is bringing me closer to God. My wish to understand Islam is my main reason for reading the Gospel of Barnabas. I imagine that I will be spending a lot of time on your web page. Although I realize that the Qur'an is the Qur'an only in Arabic, I would like to read it in English (since I don't speak Arabic). Can you suggest a good English translation for an American? I am impressed that you are avoiding the Shiite/Sunni sectarian conflict and going back to the Qur'an. This is important. At this point in my life, I believe that Jesus (pbuh) is the Son of God and I am putting my total faith in Him. I believe that the Prophet (pbuh) was a good man but was honestly confused by Satanic sources. I will attempt to keep an open mind while I search for truth. I trust you are doing the same. In the end, it doesn't matter what we think or believe. It's what God is that counts. May God bless you and your family. Reply I am greatly encouraged by your comments on my work. Probably your's is the most invaluable comment that I have received thus far. May the Lord Almighty, help me correctly understand and correctly present the true teachings of His book. I have forwarded the related part of your letter to the author of the "Gospel of Barnabas". Yes, I think it is very unfortunate that rather than live our lives for a better future, we are always busy trying to find in our past, reasons to blame others for their iniquities and injustices. I am a firm believer and a proponent of the idea that no dispute is likely to be truly and permenantly resolved if all parties to the dispute concentrate solely on trying to determine and prove the mistakes of other parties. But no dispute shall remain unresoved where all the parties try to determine their own mistakes, and then accept and correct these mistakes. My dear brother, in your letter, you have done exactly that. I would like to express my fondest regards to you. You write: And just as it is wrong to judge all Muslims based on a few terrorists, please don't judge all Christians on what you see in the media (eg Christian President is a womanizer and perjurer). Those who take the name of Jesus Christ and live the life of Satan are not true followers and are in fact an embarrasment to us. I fully agree with you. How can we generalize an individual's act on a community. I have great regard and respect for Christians and Jews. I have always tried to consider them as the elder brothers of Muslims. For these were the people who were given God's guidance before the Muslims. You write: I will attempt to keep an open mind while I search for truth. I trust you are doing the same. Yes. And I pray that may the Lord Almighty always keep my heart and mind open for the Truth, whatever it is, wherever it is. I really do not like most of the English translations of the Qur'an. But I think, two or three of them are slightly better than the others. These are: 1- N.J. Dawood's translation with notes; 2- Abdullah Yusuf Ali's translation and commentary; and 3- Pickthal's "The Glorious Koran". Although these translations are somewhat better than the others but even here there are numerous instances where I think that the translation and interprettation is not very accurate (in my opinion). I would definitely be looking forward to a bond of long term friendship with you. I pray to God that He may guide us all to the path of His liking. Regards and salaam The Learner