Why Islam and the Christian Faith Clash
By Randy Blackaby
As the thunder of
a Third World War rumbles from Israel to Iraq and from Afghanistan to New York
and Bali, the extremely naïve of our country shake their heads and imagine its
all rooted in minor religious differences. They also imagine that some new
level of tolerance and acceptance can resolve it. They imply a new ecumenism is
needed.
And while weak and
sickly American denominationalism and its anemic ecumenical faithlessness lend
their political correctness to these ideas, any real understanding of what the
Bible says about being a Christian or what the Qur’an says about being a Muslim
demonstrates these two faiths always will clash.
Recently, a PBS
program advanced the idea that Christianity, Judaism and Islam represent “one
God and three faiths.” The false premise
and the idea promoted is that these three religions have a
lot in common and only relatively minor differences. But again, such
ideas belie a deep ignorance of each religion.
A Christian is, by
any reasonable definition, a disciple or follower of Jesus Christ. The Bible
teaches that Jesus was born of a virgin, his birth instigated by the Holy
Spirit. Thus, he was both God and man at once, as the name Immanuel suggests
(Matthew 1:23). Further, the Bible
teaches that Jesus lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15)
and died a torturous death on the cross for mankind’s sins (Romans 5:6-8).
Scripture records that Jesus accepted worship from men while on earth (John 21:28) and today serves as the sole mediator
between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5).
While Jesus and
the first disciples were Jews, and while Jewish scriptures foretold the
Christ’s coming, there is little but history that connects Judaism and
Christianity today. Jews may accept that Jesus lived, but they deny his deity,
his sacrificial death for sin and his present mediation from heaven.
However, many Jews
and professed Christians don’t take their beliefs very seriously, reduce
religion and worship to a social event and manage to politically find common
ground and a relative peace.
Islam’s view
Islam is a
different story, in several respects. First, like the Jews, Muslims deny that
Jesus is the Son of God. They deny Jesus died on a cross for our sins and that
he was resurrected. They reject the Bible’s statement that Jesus is God’s final
revelator of His will (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus is viewed as merely a good
teacher, whose teachings were corrupted by the apostles who followed him.
More importantly,
Muslims fundamentally reject the entire foundation of both Christian and Jewish
faith. Since they claim both Jewish scriptures (Old Testament) and Christian
scriptures (New Testament) are corrupted, neither is accepted.
Instead, they
follow the teachings and example of Mohammed, reputedly recorded in a holy book
called the Qur’an. Other writings and traditions, such as the Hadith, help
guide them as well.
Understand Mohammed
and understand the conflict
The faith of Islam
centers on Mohammed. This man was born in Mecca,
in present-day Saudi Arabia,
about 570 AD. Muslims say that in about 610 AD Mohammed was visited by the
angel Gabriel and told that he was to be God’s apostle. They say Gabriel
visited the founder of Islam many more times with messages that were verbally
handed down for decades and then recorded in what became the Qur’an.
When Mohammed
began teaching in Mecca he was
rejected and ridiculed. So, in 622 he is said to have traveled to Medina
in Saudi Arabia,
where his teachings found acceptance. Thus, the Islamic calendar is dated from
622.
In Medina,
the movement headed by Mohammed began to change from simple teaching to a
political and social crusade. Mohammed died just 10 years after his first
success, in 632. But his followers say that while alive he performed miracles,
such as multiplying food, causing stones to speak and splitting the moon. He is
purported to have made a miraculous “Night Journey to Jerusalem”
and the “seven spheres of heaven.” For this trip he rode a winged, human-headed
beast, they say.
Mohammed is viewed
as the successor to Jesus. And while they contend Jesus’ teaching has been
corrupted, they are adamant that Islam’s scriptures remain undefiled through
the centuries. Mohammed is to Islam what Jesus is to Christian faith. In fact,
one Islamic writer has described the founder of Islam as “the most favored of
mankind, the most honored of all apostles, the prophet of mercy, the head or
Imam of the faithful, the bearer of the banner of praise, the intercessor, the
holder of high position, the possessor of the River of Paradise, under whose
banner the sons of Adam will be on the day of judgment. He is the best of
prophets and his nation is the best of nations…and his creed is the noblest of
all creeds.”
Compare Jesus and
Mohammed
When you set Jesus
and Mohammed side by side, the contrast is startling—and illuminating. Jesus
was meek and gentle. He spread his message of repentance, faith in God and
impending salvation by teaching. He ultimately gave up his life for his
followers. He declared that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).
Mohammed, on the
other hand, was a warrior. He conquered by the sword, starting with raids on
merchant caravans. Those who opposed his teaching were physically conquered and
often given the option of conversion or death. Mohammed’s kingdom is definitely
“of this world” as the quote above illustrates, because “his nation is the best
of nations” in Islamic thought.
Anywhere Islam
becomes the predominant religious conviction, the government becomes an arm of
Islam and is used to enforce religious law and punish any teaching or practice
contrary to Muslim tenets. It is illegal for Christians to evangelize or even
openly read a Bible in Islamic countries.
If Mohammed’s
example were not sufficient, the Qur’an advocates “holy war” or “jihad.” The
so-called “militant Muslims” of al Qaeda and Hamas are really just Muslims who
take Mohammed and their Qur’an seriously and at face value. The Qur’an teaches,
“Slay the idolaters wherever you find them…lie in ambush everywhere for them.
If they repent and take to prayer and render the alms levy, allow them to go
their way…” (Sura 9:5).
The Encarta
Encyclopedia says this of the history of Islam, “The remarkable speed of
(Islam’s) religious expansion can be attributed to the fact that it was
accomplished primarily through military conquest. Mohammed drew Arabs…to Islam
by his forceful personality, the promise of salvation for those who died
fighting for Islam, and the lure of fortune for those
who succeeded in conquest. The caravan raids of the early years of Islam soon
became full-scale wars, and empires and nations bowed to the power of this new
religious, military, political, economic and social phenomenon.”
An Islamic website
largely confirms this. “Islam was spread by proof and evidence, in the case of
those who listened to the message and responded to it. And it
was spread through strength and the sword in the case of those who stubbornly
resisted, until they had no choice and had to submit to the new reality” (www.islam-qa.com Question #5441).
This is quite a
contrast to Christian faith rooted in the teaching of the New Testament. The
Apostle Paul averred, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in
God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing
that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). The
armaments of the Christian soldier are described in Ephesians 6:10-17. The only
armor described as offensive is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God.”
The religious
foundations of the conflict
Some of the
present conflict is rooted in economic and political issues. Like Hitler did in
Germany in the
late 1930s, Muslim leaders have made “the west” the scapegoats just as the
Nazis did the Jews. But the conflict has a fundamental religious element also,
as we’ve seen.
Despite
aberrations like the Catholic inquisition, teaching and preaching the gospel
spread Christian faith. Belief always and necessarily is voluntary, the
response of a heart touched by the message of God’s love, illustrated in the
death of Jesus on the cross.
But Islam began
its development with violence and once nearly took over the world by war.
Today, some of its advocates again seek to bring Islamic rule to the world
through terrorism and violence.
The two religions
have two very different founders and two very different holy books. Their views
of God, salvation and the future are very different—radically different.
If there are
peace-loving Muslims in the world, they are peaceful in spite of Mohammed and
the Qur’an—not because of them. Such Muslims are the “liberals” of their faith
because they do not seek to imitate their founder or follow strictly the
teachings of his book.
