The religion of Islam originated in c. 610 AD by Muhammad the Qurayshis, a merchant living in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, who claimed to receive revelations from God which would continue for the next 23 years until his death in 632. These revelations were recorded in a book which is known as the Qur'an, and today more than 1.4 billion people follow the teachings of the Qur'an and are known as Muslims.
In this article I will argue that Muhammad is a false prophet, and those who adhere to his teachings are actually giving heed to "seducing spirits and doctrines of devils" (1 Timothy 4:1).
THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD
When Muhammad first received these revelations he would be gripped by epileptic seizures and fits of convulsions. Muhammad himself doubted whether his revelations were from God, fearing that he was demon possessed:
"Naturally he was scared, and intimated to his wife, Khadija, the fear that he might even be possessed by an evil spirit . . . Stricken with panic, Muhammad arose and asked himself, "What did I see? Did possession of the devil which I feared all along come to pass?" . . . When he calmed down, he cast toward his wife the glance of a man in need of rescue and said, "O Khadijah, what has happened to me?" He told her of his experience and intimated to her his fear that his mind had finally betrayed him, and that he was becoming a seer or a man possessed." [Haykal, The Life of Muhammad, p.73-75]
Muhammad eventually became convinced that it was the archangel Gabriel who appeared to him and delivered these Qur'anic revelations. What we must do is evaluate carefully the content of those alleged revelations, for it is ultimately by examining the content of a prophet's message that we can discern whether a prophet is from God or not (Deut. 13:1-3; Matt. 7:15-20, 12:33-37). As the Bible says, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).
In 622, Muhammad and his followers were expelled from Mecca and moved to Medina. Muhammad became the governor of Medina and there the first Muslim political community was created. Muhammad proceeded to wage war against the Meccans. After eight years of bloodshed, the Muslims conquered the city with a force of ten thousand men and established Mecca as the Islamic capital of the world. After the capture of Mecca, many of the Arabian tribes joined Muhammad and converted to Islam. Muhammad sent out his commanders to spread Islam with this command:
"When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to [accept] Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. ... If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them." [Sahih Muslim, Book 19, Number 4294]
Muslims insist that Islam is a religion of peace, but history demonstrates that what is meant by peace is that all nations and peoples would submit politically to Islam, like the Pax Romana of the Roman Empire. Their founder and leader was man of war who shed blood and conquered by the sword in order to bring about this peace. This is very different than the kingdom of Jesus. Our Lord said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight" (John 18:36). Accordingly, we may conclude that Muhammad's kingdom is of this world.
Muhammad was Biblically disqualified from being a spiritual leader according to the list of leadership qualifications in Titus 1:6-9. "If any be blameless, the husband of one wife..."; "...no striker..."; and especially, "...holding fast the faithful word..." Muhammad did not hold fast the faithful word of God, but claimed the Bible had been corrupted, when in fact Muhammad himself changed the teachings of the Bible to fit with his religion of Islam. He is an example of what Paul warned about in 1 Timothy 4:1: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons."
THE TEACHINGS OF MUHAMMAD
"He has revealed to you the Book of truth, verifying that which is before it, and He revealed the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, a guidance for the people, and He sent the Qur'an." (Surah 3:3)
Muhammad affirmed that the Bible--Old and New Testaments--were given by God and therefore were to be obeyed as the Word of God. The Qur'an refers to Christians and Jews as "People of the Book", those to whom the Bible was given. Both Moses and Jesus are considered prophets in Islam, and Jesus is even held to be the Messiah. However, Muhammad runs into a major problem here because the Qur'an seriously and fundamentally contradicts the Bible on many important issues. For example:
-the Qur'an says God established His covenant with Abraham's son, Ishmael. But the Bible says God established His covenant with Abraham's son, Isaac.
-the Qur'an says that blood does not atone for sins. But the Bible says that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
-the Qur'an says God has no Son. But the Bible says that God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son.
-the Qur'an says that Jesus was just a man. The Bible says that Jesus is God.
-the Qur'an says that Jesus did not die on the cross. The Bible says that Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins.
These are important differences. In light of such major discrepancies, how could Muhammad have said that the Bible and the Qur'an were both the Word of God? The answer: Muhammad declared that the Old and New Testaments had been corrupted and altered by the Jews and the Christians who had received them, and that the Qur'an was God's response, verifying the truth that had been lost by the People of the Book. But an honest evaluation of the historical facts proves this claim to be false. And if the Old and New Testaments haven't bee corrupted, then Islam is certainly false.
The Jewish people love their Scriptures. They value and esteem them above all else that is in the world, so much so that they even failed to recognize Jesus their Messiah because of their misplaced focus upon the study of them (John 5:39-40)! Hebrew scholars were the "computers" of their day. If a new scroll erred at all, even in punctuation, it was discarded and burned. Hebrew letters are also numbers, and if the sum of a new text was not equal to the sum of the original text the scroll was destroyed. With other such precautions scribes diligently supervised the Scripture's preservation. Perfection was demanded. And the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940's confirmed this, as scholars were able to compare scrolls from before the time of Christ with the Old Testament we use today, and saw that they were virtually identical. Certainly Jesus did not think the Scriptures would ever be lost: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18).
Muhammad's claim that the New Testament was corrupted by the Church is likewise without historical grounds. Muhammad was suggesting that in less than 600 years the New Testament was perverted, and its Gospel unable to decipher, but the facts say the opposite. There are thousands of early New Testament manuscripts, discovered from a diversity of locations, which convince even the most skeptical scholars like Bart Ehrman that the New Testament we use today is virtually identical to the original Scriptures, and that the message and doctrines of Jesus and His apostles have not been lost. Moreover, the Ante-Nicene fathers (Christian writers after the Apostles and before the Council of Nicaea, c. 100-325 AD) wrote voluminous letters, treatises, and commentaries on the New Testament Scriptures, many of which we possess today, and in which they quote almost every verse which we have in our present day Bibles. These writings prove that the New Testament they used is the same one we use, i.e., that it was not corrupted. Muhammad's claim is therefore false, and he argues against God Who said, "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you" (1 Peter 1:24-25). God will not allow His Word to be lost.
It is on this point that Islam ultimately falls through. If the Bible was corrupted, then the Qur'an might be true, but because the Word of God stands sure forever, and the Qur'an contradicts that Word, it is shown to be false and to have no authority. Each of us must decide whether we will follow the Word of God or the word of a man and devils. Let the facts decide for you.
THE TRUTH
I write this for those dear Muslims who are deceived by the lies of the devil through this man Muhammad. Jesus said, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink" (John 7:37). You may find yourself dying of thirst in the desert like Hagar and Ishmael because of confusion and sins, and you know that if you don't find drink you will die. The Bible says that the Father loved you so much He gave Jesus Christ His own Son to died on the cross for your sins and bear your iniquities so that you can be saved. Isa is your Well of ZamZam. If you repent today and call upon Jesus to save you, you shall be saved, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).
6 comments:
whoa! Great Post Brother!
-T
Interesting post, but it is a very superficial look at Islam. Esentialy you are comparing Christianity at it's best, to Islam at it's worst. When you do this, you can make anything sound superior. Richard Dawkins does that in his book "The God Delusion" He compares the best of Science, with the Worst of Religion and concludes that we should get rid of religion. He fails to note the negative side of science or the positive side of religion.
This isn't really a good way to reach out to Muslims. After all, there are many web sites out there that focus on why Christianity is false and points at our sometimes embarassing past. yet, I do not find myself falling on my knees and renouncing my faith. Rather it imediatly turns me off and gives me a desire to better understand the faith I have. Remeber, Muslims think that they have found truth, they are not a group who follow Islam because they do not know what else is out there, they are genuinely convinced that they know what truth is, and so to just use arguments that attack their truth is no more effective then when the various professors try and attack your beliefs on campus.
Any who, keep up the excellent work, don't take this as harsh criticism, but just as an observation I've made.God Bless.
(Romans 1:18-23)- The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
So what is your interpritation of this verse in relation to the issue of Islam. They do not have the truth, but neither do Athiests, Buddhists, Wiccans, and, to be perfectly honest, alot of "Christians". I'm just curious as to a good way to approach Muslims without attacking them in a way that, if done with any of us, would only reinforce our own views. I like that verse though, it reall shows the connection that God has with His creation. He does not just create and let it work itself out.
I speak from experience, from many encounters with Muslims throughout my life and on this trip. The majority of Muslims are Muslims by birth, and only believe what they believe because of indoctrination. Islam is of the devil and needs to be sharply confronted. Have your read the Qu'ran?
This is not the worst of Islam. This IS Islam. Muslims need to wake up to the reality of the lie they are believing and see their religion for what it is. Christians also better wake up to the reality of the threat of Islam. There is a culture beyond the sea that we know practically nothing about. While we are swimming in fun and ease, they are teaching their children hatred and violence. The world is heading for a massive clash with these people. We all need Christ desperately.
Excellent summary Eli! Have you read the whole Koran yet? I have been meaning to. I got through a couple chapters the other day. I want to be careful, but I think it's important to know what is in it. Thanks for all the work on this post. Micah
Post a Comment