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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
Islam is a religious system begun in the seventh century by Muhammad. Muslims follow the teachings of the Qur'an and strive to keep the Five Pillars.
The History of Islam
In the seventh century, Muhammad claimed the angel Gabriel visited him. During these angelic visitations, which continued for about 23 years until Muhammad's death, the angel purportedly revealed to Muhammad the words of Allah (the Arabic word for "God" used by Muslims). These dictated revelations compose the Qur'an, Islam's holy book. Islam means "submission," deriving from a root word that means "peace." The word Muslim means "one who submits to Allah."
The Doctrine of Islam
Muslims summarize their doctrine in six articles of faith:
1. Belief in one Allah: Muslims believe Allah is one, eternal, creator, and sovereign.
2. Belief in the angels
3. Belief in the prophets: The prophets include the biblical prophets but end with Muhammad as Allah's final prophet.
4. Belief in the revelations of Allah: Muslims accept certain portions of the Bible, such as the Torah and the Gospels. They believe the Qur'an is the preexistent, perfect word of Allah.
5. Belief in the last day of judgment and the hereafter: Everyone will be resurrected for judgment into either paradise or hell.
6. Belief in predestination: Muslims believe Allah has decreed everything that will happen. Muslims testify to Allah's sovereignty with their frequent phrase, inshallah, meaning, "if God wills."
The Five Pillars of Islam
These five tenets compose the framework of obedience for Muslims:
1. The testimony of faith (shahada): "la ilaha illa allah. Muhammad rasul Allah." This means, "There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." A person can convert to Islam by stating this creed. The shahada shows that a Muslim believes in Allah alone as deity and believes that Muhammad reveals Allah.
2. Prayer (salat): Five ritual prayers must be performed every day.
3. Giving (zakat): This almsgiving is a certain percentage given once a year.
4. Fasting (sawm): Muslims fast during Ramadan in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. They must not eat or drink from dawn until sunset.
5. Pilgrimage (hajj): If physically and financially possible, a Muslim must make the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia at least once. The hajj is performed in the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar.
A Muslim's entrance into paradise hinges on obedience to these Five Pillars. Still, Allah may reject them. Even Muhammad was not sure whether Allah would admit him to paradise (Surah 46:9; Hadith 5.266).
An Evaluation of Islam
Compared to Christianity, Islam has some similarities but significant differences. Like Christianity, Islam is monotheistic. However, Muslims reject the Trinity-that God has revealed Himself as one in three Persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Muslims claim that Jesus was one of the most important prophets-not God's Son. Islam asserts that Jesus, though born of a virgin, was created like Adam. Muslims do not believe Jesus died on the cross. They do not understand why Allah would allow His prophet Isa (the Islamic word for 'Jesus') to die a torturous death. Yet the Bible shows how the death of the perfect Son of God was essential to pay for the sins of believers (Isaiah 53:5-6; John 3:16; 14:6; 1 Peter 2:24).
Islam teaches that the Qur'an is the final authority and the last revelation of Allah. The Bible, however, was completed in the first century with the Book of Revelation. The Bible warns against anyone adding to or subtracting from God's Word (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Galatians 1:6-12; Revelation 22:18). The Qur'an, as a claimed addition to God's Word, directly disobeys God's command.
Muslims believe that paradise can be earned through keeping the Five Pillars. The Bible, in contrast, reveals that sinful man can never measure up to the holy God (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Only by God's grace may sinners be saved through repentant faith in Jesus (Acts 20:21; Ephesians 2:8-9).
Because of these essential differences and contradictions, Islam and Christianity cannot both be true. The Bible and Qur'an cannot both be God's Word. The truth has eternal consequences.
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world" (1 John 4:1-4; see also John 3:35-36).
See http://www.gotquestions.org/Islam.html
Gregory Tomlinson
It is the anti-Christ religion/political movement. Look up the inscription at the dome of the rock a monument that was erected over the site were Hebrews are to offer their daily sacrifice. It is a proclamation that allah is god and denies Jesus as the Christ. It sets in the holy place trying to show that allah is god; sound familiar? It is one of the most carnal religions ever invented. It promises endless carnal pleasures to kill steal and destroy non-believers; sound familiar? There are so many opposites in their teachings and prophecy it is rather remarkable, but they take the path of works and legalism and carnality teaching against grace and the leading of the spirit. History shows they have martyred Jesus's followers for more than 1500 years, so if someone is trying to teach you they are the same do not believe it. They are anti-Christ by the definition found in 1John.2 1.[18] Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 2.[22] Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. 1John.4 1.[3] And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 2John.1 1.[7] For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Thomas Cofie
The origin of Islam is controversial. The "previous scriptures" mentioned are the Hebrew Torah, the Psalms of David, and the Gospels of Jesus Christ (Sura 4:163; 5:44-48). The Qur'an accepts these books as divinely inspired and even encourages us to test its claims by these "previous scriptures."
"If you have any doubt regarding what is revealed to you from your Lord, then ask those who read the previous scripture" (Sura 10:94). But this is where we run into a problem. The problem is that the Qur'an thoroughly contradicts the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospels. For example, the Qur'an explicitly denies Jesus Christ's crucifixion (Sura 4:157-158) while all four Gospel accounts clearly portray Jesus Christ as crucified and resurrected.
One contradiction in particular has caused a great deal of conflict between Muslims and ethnic Jews and is thought to have been and continues to be the cause of much bloodshed in the Middle East. According to the Hebrew Torah, God made a covenant with a man named Abraham. God promised Abraham a child through whom He would fulfill this covenant ("the child of promise," Genesis 15). Abraham was at that time childless. His wife, Sarah, was barren. This of course made the promise very special to Abraham. But it would require nothing less than a miracle. Sarah, conscious of her condition, decided to help God out. She offered her maidservant Hagar to Abraham with the hope that Hagar might conceive and bear the child of promise. Abraham agreed to take Hagar as his concubine. She conceived and bore Ishmael (Genesis 16). God allowed Ishmael to be born but Ishmael was not the child of promise God had in mind (Genesis 17). God promised a child through Sarah, not Hagar (Genesis 17-18), and in due time God fulfilled His promise. "And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him-whom Sarah bore to him-isaac." (Genesis 21:1-3) Isaac was the child of promise. Isaac later begot Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the Messiah, Jesus Christ, eventually came into the world through the nation of Israel, fulfilling the covenant which God had made with Abraham. God also promised to give the land of Canaan (Palestine) to Isaac's descendants, the land which Israel possesses today (Genesis 12:4-7; 13:12-18; 15:1-21; 17:1-22; 21:1-14; 25:19-26; 26:1-6; 35:9-12).
Meshack Gachago
Islam has lied to the world and the West that it is a religion of peace through her teaching from the Koran. Even though not all Muslims are violent, they sympathise howbeit quietly with radical Islamism. It is not just a religion but a political system that justifies evil and lies using the Koran. They have infiltrated politics in the name of it. It is a minority group "religion" that has exploited the various tenets of human rights. They push for human rights in the West but they do not practice the same in other countries. Initially Mohammed was not inventing a new religion, but was leading a fighting band of men against marauding criminals of the day and those who looked different. To keep his political ambition alive and to unite his group he came up with a religion claiming that he received special revelations from Allah, which were put in a book called the Koran. The Koran is a book whose writing has a background of Arabic culture, a mix of distorted Bible stories and myths as found in mysticism. The writing of the Koran was supposedly what was given to Mohammed through various mediums or agents including angels, insects and different animals even though it is asserted that the Koran descended from heaven and was given to Mohammed directly. They are an expansionist religion and plan to take over the world in politics, economics and cultural change. In Africa they are building mosques without people; they know they will get people by proselytizing and putting in huge money. They do not respect freedom of conscience or religion. Any convert from Islam to any other faith is victimized and ostracized. It will take political will and machinery from the West and other countries to deal with Islam as a political entity and as a cultural-religious force. For the church, it will take love and reaching out to them at great risks. There is no short cut to the laying down of life for the Muslim world.
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