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Thoughts about God

Thoughts about God and ISLAM
by Rick Jenkins, Ed.D. (September 2016)

Islam

Unless otherwise marked, the information on Islam found in this paper were taken from the book "Unveiling Islam" by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner (2009). Ergun Mehmet Caner is former Christian pastor and is now the president of Brewton-Parker College in Georgia. Emir Fethi Caner is president of Truett-McConnell College in Georigia and is an author. Both brothers were raised Muslim but converted to Christianity.

The five pillars of Islam include:

  1. The Creed (Shahada)
  2. Prayer (Salat)
  3. Almsgiving (Zakat)
  4. Fasting (Sawm)
  5. Pilgrimmage (Haji) (pp. 122-130)

The Creed (Shahada) - "There is no god but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of of Allah." (p. 122) This is the creed. "The admission of Muhammad as the final messenger of Allah places the believer within the prophet's belief system. Therefore, the Muslim maintains what the prophet believed, including that the Qur'an is the final and perfect revelation of Allah, that prophets are messengers to all people groups, and that angels do the will of Allah. In addition, theological tenets of resurrection, judgment day, heaven, and hell are accepted as factual. . . The combination of right principles with dedicated performance will guide the Muslim through the course of this life into the hereafter." (pp. 122-123)

Prayer (Salat) - Muslims must cleanse themselves before prayer. Muslims recite their prayers in Arabic five times daily. They prostrate themselves before Allah as an act of submission. According to a hadith, "The reward of the prayer offered by a person in congregation is twenty-five times greater than that of the prayer offered in one's house or in the market." (p. 125)

Almsgiving (Zakat) - Muslims are required to donate 2.5 percent of their income and must recognize that everything belongs to Allah. Givings alms encourages hard work and discourages begging and is intended to benefit all Muslims in need. ". . .like organs of the body, if one suffers than all others rally in response." (p. 125) Neglecting giving alms nullifies salvation and is ". . .integral to earning the mercy of Allah." (p. 126)

Ramadan or Fasting (Sawm) - ". . .Ramadan is the antithesis to Christmas. It pits the revelation of the Holy Bible against the revelation of the Qur'an. Muslims believe that Muhammad first received his revelation from Allah in the form of the Qur'an during this holy month. Therefore, they lay aside special times to worship and meet." (p. 127) During Ramadan, Muslims will fast (avoid eating and drinking), will not smoke, and will avoid sex from sunrise to sunset. In place of these activities, Muslims are to read the Qur'an. Failure to participate is considered an unpardonable sin, except for a few cases, such as pregnant or menstruating women, elderly, young children, and the sick.

Pilgrimage (Haji) - In their lifetime, Muslims are to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace of Islam. While at Mecca, they are to visit the Kaaba, a place of worship that was built by Abraham. Abraham built the Kaaba as after sacrificing a ram in place of Ishmael, his son. "The pilgrimage is the climax of the Muslims' spiritual journey." While in Mecca, they are also required to perform a number of other activities. (p. 129)

From the above, we can see that there are similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam.

Similarities

  • From Deuteronomy 5:6-7: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me." Christians also believe in the resurrection, judgment day, heaven, and hell.
  • Christians are taught how to pray (The Lord's Paryer, Matthew 6:9-13), but there are no established requirements for how often we should pray (pray continually, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
  • Christians believe in a tithe, but it is 10 percent not 2.5. (Leviticus 27:30) Christians are also encouraged help the poor. (Acts 9:36)

Differences

  • Fasting is generally no longer required. But it was somewhat common in the Old Testament.
  • A pilgrimage is not required by Christianity, but many make a trip to the Holy Land.

Jesus

Muslims believe in Jesus. His name appears 25 times in the Qur'an. According to the Qur'an, his mother was the virgin Mary and he was a prophet. (p. 211) However, ". . . it seems that the Qur'an only revises what the Bible portrays of Christ" and they claim that the ". . . Gospels are now corrupt!" (p. 212) "Muslims assert that Jesus was not worthy of worship and praise, but only of admiration as a messenger of Allah." (p. 213)

The following are from the same book on pages 214-220:

  1. Jesus did not come to the earth to save the lost.
  2. He was not the Son of God.
  3. Jesus was a messenger of Allah.
  4. Jesus was human, not divine.
  5. He was one prophet among many.
  6. He was sent specifically to the Jews.
  7. His message was to instruct about faith and obedience to Allah.
  8. Any doctrine contradicting the Qur'an is wrong.
  9. Jesus was called the Messiah (Al Masih) but it simply meant that he had a specific mission.
  10. Jesus was considered similar to Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Muhammad.
  11. Jesus did not die on the cross. (Three popular scenarios: Jesus hid and one of his companions died on the cross; Judas Iscariot died on the cross, not Jesus; and Simon of Cyrene died on the cross, not Jesus.)
  12. Jesus will return before the final judgment.
  13. When he returns, he will ". . . battle the Antichrist, defeat him, confess Islam, kill all pigs, break all crosses, and establish a thousand years of righteousness." (p. 220)
  14. Jesus will be buried next to Muhammad.

The first two bullet points are refuted by John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (NIV)." This verse says that God sent his Son to provide salvation to all. In addition, in John 3:17: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (NIV)." These two verses make it clear that the Bible disagrees with the Qur'an.

Consider these other verses which state that Jesus is the Son of God.

  1. Matthew 3:16-17 (NIV): "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'"
  2. Matthew 17:5(NIV): "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!'"
  3. Mark 1:11 (NIV): "And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.'"
  4. John 14:13 (NIV): "And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
  5. John 5:19 (NIV): "Jesus gave them this answer: 'Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself, he can do only what he sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.'"
  6. John 5:26-27 (NIV): "For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man."
  7. Luke 8:28 (NIV): "When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, 'What do you want with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me.'"

The above Bible verses contradicts the first five bullets regarding the Qur'an. Jesus was the Son of God and therefore was divine. He was not a messenger of Allah, but of God. He was sent to the Jews and promised salvation to all, not just the Jews. One could consider him a prophet, but he was much more than prophet - he was the Son of God (bullet (10)).

The first commandment of the Ten Commandments contradicts Qur'an bullet (8). Exodus 20:2-3 (NIV): "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other Gods before me."

Jesus did die on the cross, was resurrected, and was seen by many as detailed in the Gospels: Matthew chapters 26-28; Mark chapters 14-16; Luke chapters 22-24; and John chapters 18-21.

From the above, we see that the Bible and the Qur'an have many contradictory views. Since I am a Christian, I believe the Bible, not the Qur'an.

Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. in Mecca, more than 500 years after the life of Jesus. (p. 38) As a youth and young man, he traveled with a merchant in a caravan making several trips (580-594 A.D.). He supposedly traveled as far north as Syria ( http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/timeline_html.shtml). On these trips, he may have been exposed to both Judaism and Christianity. He received his first revelation in 610 at approximately the age of 40 ( http://www.pbs.org/muhammad/timeline_html.shtml).

Did Muhammad borrow his concepts to establish Islam on these caravan trips?

"Specifically, scholars assert that primarily Muhammad borrowed from Judaism and Christianity. He also borrowed from Arabic paganism. They add that he injected quite a bit of his own concepts, desires, and philosophy, into the Quran." ( http://answering-islam.org/Silas/borrowing.htm)

"Although in the Westerm world, Islam cannot enable their information control as they do in Muslim controlled countries, there is still significant misinformation that Muslims believe about the Bible and Christianity. . . Muslims are forbidden to question Islamic faith, and are expected to accept its truthfulness blindly without investigation. Muhammad understood that information was the main enemy of his newly invented religion. In many Muslim controlled nations, for example, young men are paid to learn NOTHING but the Koran to the exclusion of science and history and current world events. They are told this is all they need, but in reality they are brainwashed and basic world information is deliberately withheld from them." ( http://www.bible.ca/islam/islam-questions.htm)

Ten Reasons Why Muhammad Was a False Prophet?
Tuesday, 04 September 2012 01:20 Imran Firasat
There are way too many reason to nullify Muhammad's claim of being a prophet of God. Here are 10 reasons:

  1. No extraordinary natural signs before birth of Muhammad, or predictions from past religious characters about arrival of Muhammad to save the world.
  2. Islam did not exist at the time Muhammad was born. He was born to an idolater family and that's what he followed all his childhood and teenage. That means, Muhammad, born as a Qafir (Infidel), spent 70% of his life as a proud infidel before he invented Islam.
  3. His first marriage was with a Jewish woman and not with any Muslimah. So, which religious rites were followed at his marriage ceremony with a Jewish woman if Islam wasn't yet born? Certainly, a Jewish style marriage ceremony! Even the Quran doesn't mention anything about the Islamic ceremony of Prophet Muhammad's first marriage. That simply shows that even Muhammad didn't have any idea of the existence of Islam or his prophecy.
  4. If Muhammad was an adorable prophet sent by Allah, then why didn't he reveal the truth about Islam, when he was a child or when he got young? Why did he waste 40 years of his life as a non-Muslim idolater? If his purpose of coming in this world was only to reveal Islam and preach it to people, then why he had to wait until more than half of his life, living like a common man and practicing idol-worship?
  5. Almost all the rituals and rules of Islam mentioned in the Quran are copied from Judaism, which shows how deeply Muhammad was inspired by Judaism and attracted towards the Torah. So, he found copying and pasting from the Torah into his Quran was the easiest way to invent a new religion.
  6. Muhammad spread Islam on the point of the sword and not with love and preaching. His strategy was to rule at any price.
  7. Muhammad killed poor, innocent and helpless people, which can't be justified in any sense as act of a holy prophet.
  8. How to call Muhammad a holy prophet, when he sexually abused uncountable number of women, including sometimes ridiculously shamefully, like his marriage with minor Aisha and his own daughter-in-law Zainab. That proves that Muhammad was just another powerful dictator, who knew very well how to take advantage of his power and abuse everyone, anywhere and in any way.
  9. Muhammad never performed any miracle, which is expected of a prophet. Instead of helping the suffering people, he used to destroy well-settled, peaceful communities, capturing their lands and making the captured children and women slave.
  10. In his life, Muhammad did immense harm to humanity but that was not enough for his satanic mind. So, before dying, he left the messages of Jihad to his followers for conquering the whole world, all of humanity, in the name of Islam, which continues causing great sufferings to our lives to this day. Wouldn't a true prophet sacrifice his own life for his people, instead of destroying lives on every flimsy excuses? It shows that Muhammad was not a prophet - neither in life nor in death.

    11. http://www.islam-watch.org/home/151-firasat/1132-ten-reasons-why-muhammad-was-a-false-prophet.html

What do you think?