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Facts on Islam – Part One

September 8, 2010 at 2:36 PM Leave a comment

Truth about Islam, from an ex-Muslim

ISLAM: WHAT IS IT?

• The religion of Islam was founded by Muhammad (circa A.D. 570-632).
• The god of Islam is known by the name Allah.
• Accepted spellings of Islam’s founder’s name is either Muhammad, Muhammed, or Mohammed.
• Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca (present day Saudi Arabia).
• Muhammad claimed to have received supernatural revelations from God through the angel Gabriel.
• The revelations allegedly received by Muhammad were written down by others into a work known as the Qur’an (the Muslim Bible, aka Koran).
• Islam is generally divided into two schools:  1) Sunni (about 90 percent), and 2) Shi’ite (about 10 percent).
• Within Islam there are known to be millions of Muslim mystics called Sufis.
• Muslims represent about five to eight million people in America.

ISLAM:  IT IS IMPORTANT?

• Islam is important for a number of reasons: 1) the followers of Islam represent roughly one billion people worldwide, and 2) Islam controls OPEC and can substantially affect the world’s economy.

ISLAM: SIX BASIC BELIEFS

1. Faith: Faith in Allah
2. Angels: Muslims believe in angels
3. Sacred Writings: While parts of the Old Testament are considered sacred by Muslims, the Qur’an supersedes everything.
4. Prophets: Muslims believe that Allah has sent a total of 124,000 prophets to mankind.  Six of the principal prophets are 1) Adam 2) Noah 3) Abraham 4) Moses 5) Jesus, and 6) Muhammad.
5. Predestination: Muslims believe in a form of fatalism – everything that happens (both good and bad) is predestined by Allah.
6. Day of Judgment: On his day, all men’s works will be placed on a scale.  Those whose good outweighs their bad, and have Allah’s favor will go to heaven with him.  All others will go to eternal hell.

ISLAM: THE FIVE PILLARS

1. First Pillar: Reciting the creed of Islam (“There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet”)
2. Second Pillar: This involves prayer.  Specific prayers are to be recited five times per day and each prayer time must be accompanied by certain physical postures (standing, kneeling, hand and face to ground, etc.)
3. Third Pillar: The month of Ramadan must be observed through fasting during the daytime.  This fast celebrates the first revelation of the Qur’an that Muhammad is said to have received in A.D. 610.
4. Fourth Pillar: It is the duty of the Muslim to give alms to the poor (generally understood as 2.5 % of their earnings, plus other things as well.
5. Fifth Pillar: Hajj, which is a pilgramage to Mecca, must be completed at least once during each Muslim’s lifetime.

ISLAM: JIHAD

• This is sometimes referred to as an additional religious duty, associated with the previous five pillars.  Essentially, this is being obedient to the call of jihad.  Jihad is interpreted as either an internal struggle (spiritually), or external (seen as defending Islam), or it could be both.  While modern Muslim apologists often say that the term today means the former (spiritual struggle), throughout most of Islam’s history including today, jihad is primarily connected with warfare that has spiritual significance.  So for instance, it is the duty of every Muslim (when necessary) to go to war to defend Islam against any and all perceived enemies.  al-Queda fits into this group because they believe that anyone who is not for Islam, is against Islam, which gives them the right to defend Islam.  Muslims who defend Islam in this way often see the culture of the West as something that is evil, and if allowed, would encroach upon Islamic culture.  Because of this threat, al-Queda and other groups have dedicated their lives to defending Islam.
• Anyone who dies in what is considered to be a holy war, automatically becomes a martyr for Islam and according to Islamic beliefs, is guaranteed a place in heaven.  This has brought about the high rate of suicide bombers in today’s Islam, including those Muslims who deliberatedly flew hijacked planes into the WTC on 9/11.

ISLAM:  THEOLOGY

• One God: Islam teaches that there is one god and his name is Allah.  All other views of god are considered to be false because the Qur’an teaches “The true religion with God is Islam.”  Is Allah the same as the Christian God?  The Muslim belief in one god specifically eliminates their acceptance of any Trinity.  Though the Trinity, within Christendom is one God in three Persons, Muslims believe based on the Qur’an that a Trinity is impossible.  “They are unbelievers who say ‘God is the Third of Three [an error-filled representation of the one Triune God of Christianity].  No god is there but one God.  If they refrain not from what they say, there shall afflict those of them that disbelieve a painful chastisement’.” [1]  In essence then, the Qur’an wrongly teaches that Christians believe in three gods – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  In fact, the Christian God is ONE God, with three individual Persons.  Because of this, Islam signifies that Chrsitians are unbelievers.
• Allah’s Character: In Islam, Muslims are taught that Allah loves only those people who do good and hates those who do evil.  Allah is a god of power, whereas the God of Christianity is a God of love.
• Alllah’s Comprehensibility:  In Islam, Allah is not knowable, nor can he cannot be understood.  In Christianity, God is knowable (to a certain extent) and lives within authentic Christians, who speak to Him in prayer, and who come to know Him through His printed Word, the Bible.  Muslims believe that the Christian claim that we can know God at all is a “metaphysical impossibility.”  In the Islamic faith, Muslims do not believe that Allah has revealed himself at all.  They believe rather that Allah has made his will known (mashi’at).  Allah’s will is known and understood through Islamic law, so every Muslim does Allah’s will by upholding Islamic law.  This is in stark contrasts to Chrisianity, which speaks of knowing God through relationship with Him (cf. John 14:17, 20, 23; 17:3; Ephesians 1:17; 1 John 2:3-4; 4:7-8).

We will include more information on Islam in upcoming blogs, continuing with Islam’s Theology, Jesus Christ, Salvation, the Qur’an, and we will also discuss whether or not Islam is a religion of tolerance, how Islam views and treats women, as well as other ethical issues of Islam.  We will also look at the history and impact of the Crusades as they apply to Islam.

[1] John Ankerberg, John Weldon, Dillon Burroughs, The Facts on Islam (Harvest Publishers, 2008), 23

Sources:

• The Facts on Islam by Ankerberg, Weldon, Burroughs
• The Truth About Muhammad, by Robert Spencer
• The Truth About Islam, by Anees Zaka & Diane Coleman
• The Truth About Islam, by Lon Roberts
• What Every American Needs to KNow about the  Qur’an, by William J. Federer
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), by Robert Spencer

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