Why don muslims have a baptism?
The short answer is: ‘they do’. The long answer, well read on… Baptism was not started by Christians, let us not forget that Jesus and John the Baptist were Jews, at this time Christianity did not exist and therefore, in the earliest form of the tradition, it had absolutely nothing to do with original sin. In the ancient world in many quarters water was considered a source of purification, so for example Gentiles who wished to become Jews baptised themselves before circumcision. At Qumran there were elaborate rites of purification by water. John the Baptist invited his hearers to repent and to be baptised in the river Jordan and Jesus accepted baptism at his hands, not for remission of sins but to identify himself with his people. Even in the Pagan world water was considered purifying take the ritual of bathing in the Castellian Spring before consulting the Delphic Oracle for example. The word baptism comes from the Greek baptein which means to plunge, to immerse, or to wash. It was
