Introducing Islam
by Ted Slater on 02/02/2007 at 1:36 PM
I feel uncomfortable broaching this topic, but I think it's become necessary in order to help us understand that the Christian faith truly is fundamentally different from, and incompatible with, Islam (and not just "radical Islam"). May our coming to terms with these differences help inform our prayers for Muslims and help us engage Islam.
I came across a series of posts over at Pastor Douglas Wilson's blog, Blog and Mablog, that sets a context for our thoughts about Muslims and then goes on to explore some of the differences in our faiths. Here are some excerpts:
Muslims are held in spiritual bondage by the tenets of Islam, a false and very destructive religion, and it is not loving to pretend that this is not the case -- all for the sake of political correctness. This is a topic where it is easy for cowardice to masquerade as love and tolerance, and where genuine love takes courage. (From "A Second Battle of Tours I")
"Both the Koran and the hadiths effectively divide all of mankind into two camps. Muslim commentators call them the 'House of Islam' and the 'House of War.' Translation: Anyone who is not a Muslim is assumed to be rejecting Islam. Rejecting Islam equates to attacking Islam, Mohammed and even God. Attacking Islam makes one its enemy. Thus war against any non-Muslim under any feasible circumstance qualifies as self-defense and is condoned in both the Koran and the hadiths" (From "House of War")
Women are held to be deficient and inferior. This is not the submission of an equal, the kind of submission that Christ rendered to the Father (Phil. 2: 5-6). For example, two women are required to serve as witnesses comparable to one man (Surah 2:282). To show why this is true, one hadith puts it this way: "The Prophet said, 'Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?' The women said, 'Yes.' He said, 'This is because of the deficiency of a woman's mind.'" (From "A Second Battle of Tours II")
There are many complications when we in the West assume that certain standards are "common sense," and are common to all human societies. The problem with this assumption is that it is just flat wrong. Much of our "common sense" is actually Christian. Now when we consider how we as a society will treat women, it becomes immediately obvious that a society cannot be "neutral" on which set of assumptions we will codify in our laws. (From "A Second Battle of Tours II")
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, this is an uncomfortable issue to explore. For some it's tempting to do the unloving and lazy thing and merely bash Muslims, simply claiming that Christianity is "superior." For others it's tempting to dismiss any discussion of differences and just point out that Islam and Christianity are both monotheistic religions that trace a common heritage back to Abraham and before. We could err on the side of dismissing Muslims altogether or consider sharing the good news of Jesus with them to be unnecessary.
A good place to begin the conversation, though, is to acknowledge real differences between our faiths. And to consider how the One True God might want us to engage with those tangled in a deathward deception.
1. Nate said the following at 2:36 PM on Feb 2:
Start with the OT, especially Genesis. It's a great starting point, especially for cultures that aren't as abstract-analytical as ours, and the stories in Genesis resonate deeply with most of the rest of the world. From there, they get a better picture of who God actually is, since He's the main character of the OT. Just a thought.
2. David Bromberg said the following at 3:26 PM on Feb 2:
Check out the Christian Apologetic and Research Ministries (CARM) well-done and extensive research into the differences between Christianity and Islam: http://www.carm.org/islam.htm.
3. Bethany said the following at 3:26 PM on Feb 2:
Actually, the Quran does not disagree directly with the Bible (especially if you study it in its original language). It's mostly the Hadiths and Sunna (Quranic commentaries) that disagree with the Bible. Before we attack Islamic beliefs, I think it is important for us to actually study what they believe instead of just what the media tells us they believe.
4. Chris Krycho said the following at 3:58 PM on Feb 2:
It's also interesting to note the very real differences in interpretation of Christ. For all that people claim we're very similar, they miss the fact that Islam rejects the single most important fact of Christianity, and in so doing overrides any other similarities. The similarities are useful insofar as they help us form a bridge in conversation, but that's really the extent of it.
I've been reading the Qur'an -- very interesting reading, to be honest -- and I've been amazed at how different it is from Scripture. The hadiths are somewhat closer, by all accounts, but the Qur'an is a different thing entirely.
Interestingly, it's also worth noting oddities about it, ie. that it was in heaven, eternal and unchanging... yet its dictates about Jews and Christians are mutually contradictory, and the changes happen to come about at the same time as Mohammed's interactions with Jews and Christians changed.
Sad things like that really make me sorrowful for those who are so lost in Islam. Above all, I mourn that they have no hope or assurance of their salvation. Indeed, it is but one long guessing game as to whether they will make it or not, a continuous balancing of good deeds against bad, and one that you can never be sure of.
We should also be faithful to be praying!
5. Ted Slater said the following at 4:37 PM on Feb 2:
David -- great resource! This page -- http://www.carm.org/islam/grid.htm -- lists specific differences between Islam and Christianity: our different understandings of Scripture, the nature of God, the crucifixion, Jesus, original sin, salvation, and so on.
Bethany -- I appreciate your involvement on The Line. I'd have to disagree with you on two points: Nobody is "attacking Islamic beliefs." We're bringing a light to it. And yes, the Quran does disagree directly with the Bible (as shown in the original post and the link above). Islam, for example, says that Jesus was *just* a prophet and that He didn't die on the cross. That is entirely incompatible with Scripture.
6. Leah said the following at 6:54 PM on Feb 2:
Bethany, there are parts of the Quran which are completely incompatible with the bible. A lot of it, in fact.
7. Jake said the following at 9:03 PM on Feb 2:
The quotations by Wilson are a perfect example of how "conservatives," including Christians, are only willing to go half the distance in the struggle against their enemies, refusing to stand on actual conservative principles but instead attempting to shore up conservative-appearing attitudes with a foundation of liberalism.
In the excerpts posted Wilson starts off strong, and it seems heartening that he, like so many others, are waking up to the mortal threat posed to our civilization by Islam. He correctly describes Islam as a "very desctructive religion" and accurately characterizes Islam's view of the entire non-Muslim world as perpetually at war with Allah and thus deserving of death, justly meted out by Muslims. In the third paragraph, however, he goes completely astray, showing the incredibly frustrating tendency of conservatives to show their liberal credentials to the world in order to gain favor. What is the antidote to this very destructive religion? Is it the belief in God as a loving father who desires to redeem his people from sin, in the free gift of salvation offered through the substitutiary atonement of Jesus Christ? Why no, it's feminism. The really bad thing about Islam is that it doesn't consider men and women equal, whereas Christianity does. Yes, that's how we should judge our belief system: by whether or not it considers men and women equal. Wilson attempts to back up the false notion that the Bible considers men and women equal by a ridiculously contrived application of Phil. 2: 5-6, which has nothing to do with the topic, unless by grasping at straws you manage to connect it with the biblical comparison the church and Jesus to a bride and her husband, which is a weak connection as it is, based as it must be on Ephesians 5:25, which only says that husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the church, a statement that in no way implies that wives are equal to their husbands or that the church is equal to Christ. Even if that connection worked, Phil. 2: 5-6 wouldn't prove the point anyway, since it doens't say that Jesus is equal to God.
Where does this leave us? Appealing to standards of the secular liberal world, instead of Christian ones. I expect this kind of thing from political conservatives by now ("affirmative action is bad because it hurts black people"), but it's disappointing to see it coming from conservative Christians. It doesn't fool liberals (or secularists, in this case), who still see us as nuts and kooks and regressive simpletons no matter how many liberal credentials we attempt to marshal, and it doesn't help our cause. Islam is indeed a very destructive religion, but tolerance, democracy, equality, individual rights, etc., are not going to save us from it. They are only going to create a spiritual and civilizational void into which it can rush, and continue to grow and develop its power. We can successfully fend off Islam only by adherence to true, traditional biblical principles, not attempts to retrofit modern liberalism onto the Bible.
8. Mike Theemling said the following at 11:16 AM on Feb 5:
One of the real problems with Islam in practical terms is that many Muslims especially in places like Europe have difficuly assimilating into the current culture.
Unlike many other people of faith, the line between "relgious" and "secular" life is almost nonexistent. Al Qaida rule in Afghanistan before 9/11 was an extreme example of this (men had to have long beards, women had to have burqas, etc). But even in many non-Muslim countries Muslims have had difficulty reconciling local laws with their beliefs. When France instituted the "secular dresscode" many women who wore headdresses were expelled from school because they refused to comply.
Because of this and other Islamic tenents (such as not being able to buy a home because one cannot participate in a scheme where one charges interest) it is no wonder why Muslims have had so many tensions with the West. I honestly don't think that most Muslims "want us dead" or think America is the devil incarnate, but there is significant evidence that most Muslims (at least those in the Middle East) that view Westerners as "selfish", "immoral", and "greedy" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/5110364.stm).
It is also worth noting that despite all the variations and interpretation in Islamic cultures there is almost one universal idea among all of them: a deep-rooted animosity towards Israel. Although there is some text within the Quran that suggest that Jews were cursed and turned into pigs and apes (5:60-61), some Islamic scholars claim that this does not translate into a wholesale hatred of Jews. To be fair, the Quran also says that both Jews and Christians are "people of the book". Still, the very fact that many Muslims support the destruction of Israel or at least aren't outraged by the actions of radicals such as the Fatwa is disturbing to me. And it doesn't help America's image that the U.S. gives more financial support to Israel than any other foreign country. This is one of the main reasons I believe that any sort of long term peace between America and the Arab world will not occur in the near future.
But to be clear, at least from a purely theological standpoint, Christianity and Islam are incompatible. The Quran clearly states:
- That Jesus is not the Son of God (but merely a prophet)
- That Jesus did not die on the cross (and subsequently did not rise from the dead)
9. Raj Sharma said the following at 3:21 PM on Feb 5:
I am no great scholar on Islam. I have, however, been a witness to one serious riot between hindus and muslims in India. I have seen very "mainstream" and "normal" muslims do some horrific things to their neighbors who were of a different faith.
Once they feel that their religion has been insulted, no one is safe.
10. Eman said the following at 5:47 PM on Feb 5:
This is the website of an Egyptian Christian priest who is on the front lines of evangelism to Muslims around the world. There is a price on his head for his outspoken criticism of Islam, based on decades of having studied it (and the Holy Bible) -- in Arabic. It cannot be overstated how well-versed he is in both the Koran and the Holy Bible. His show is wildly popular and viewed by scores of Muslims and Christians everywhere.
Check out his site: http://www.fatherzakaria.net/
11. Philippa said the following at 6:58 AM on Feb 8:
Jake, you don’t believe that the Bible teaches that men and women are equal? But I thought that 'complementarians' at least believed in the spiritual equality of women! That's what they're always saying, anyhow. ;)
Some might find the oppression of women (not just under fundamentalist Islam but in other contexts) a trivial issue, but this article, about the horrendous treatment of rape victims in Iran, puts the other side of the picture:
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=5183
I know a guy who converted from Islam and has a wonderful testimony. I find his words inspiring: "I want to be more deeply rooted in Christ so that I can share the love of God with Muslims."