Getting to Know your Neighbors

There is a call for people of all religions to learn other religions. I repeat learn other religions and not convert to other religions. I had to throw that in there because many Muslims that I have come across equate learning about another religion to converting to another religion. I think that this is one area that those that have recently accepted this have an advantage. They have a working understanding of other religions which in turn allows them provide more leeway to people of other religions because they may be able to understand them better than Muslims who were born into the deen. Muslims raised in the deen, in my experience, often do not have a solid understanding of other religions, and sometimes not even of Islam. Oftentimes, there understanding is slanted by cultural divides were they only learn disconnected and incoherent fragmented facts about another religion that may or may be true. I believe that the Quran should be the validating source on related information about other religions, but I also think that Muslims should make an effort to learn about other religions. As far as Muslims converting to other religions, well Allah (SWT) makes Muslims not men/women. Whoever all guides can not be led astray and whoever Allah leads astray can not be guided straight.