So far we have learned that Islam is more than a personal religion of war and hatred as taught in the Quran, it also has a social side that governs society called the Hadith. It is therefore a marriage of religion and politics, creating a totalitarian state lead by Jihadists and obeyed by the masses. This means that Islam is not only a religion to be overcome by Jesus, but a form of government that can be responded to by other governments around the globe.
Over the past couple weeks we’ve looked at the basics of Islam and started looking at what it takes to evangelize a Muslim. Now it’s time to turn to more specific information regarding Islam to prepare the believer to speak intelligently about both faiths. Today we’ll examine the Five Pillars of Islam, rules accepted by all factions of Islam.
Those who knew me then can tell you that I was very vocal about my faith in High School. Out of all that came from being so up front there is one occasion that still stands out in my mind as terribly important. After school I was talking to my chemistry teacher. On this occasion he said to me that he was a Christian but that he believed God used evolution to create the variety of life we observe on our planet.
As promised previously, this week begins a new study and a new commitment. Our new study will be of Islam and will be a multi-part investigation providing a broad overview of the history of Islam and a detailed study of it’s primary components and how they compare to Christianity. The new commitment is one of a personal nature, for today I take the Nazarite Vow which will last 30 days.
It is difficult to estimate the number of “radicalized” Muslim’s around the world, and depending on the source it can be as few as six percent to as many as 54 percent. The number most news services fall on is between 15 to 25 percent, and I can’t help but wonder what the world would look like of the same percentage of Christians were vocal about their faith in Jesus.
So far we’ve seen that Islam has a history of violence, a holy text that isn’t what it claims to be, a God that cannot be trusted and a salvation that must be earned. We’ve compared and contrasted some of its most important components to Judaism and Christianity and found it wanting. Today I want to examine a very specific element of its origin story: Muhammad’s first spirit visitation.
Any study of a religion properly begins with its holy writings. The Christian Bible has come under repeated investigation throughout history and has valiantly stood each assault. The best one can argue against the accuracy of the Bible is not having found mention of certain people, places or wars in extra-Biblical literature, which when it comes down to it is really a fallacy of logic called “arguing from silence.”
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We’ve examined the Quran and the story of its origins, and the origin story of Islam itself through the experiences of Muhammad, but there is more to a Muslim life. While the Quran is Allah’s word and meant to be studied and meditated upon, Hadith is Muhammad’s word and governs the rest of a follower’s civil and personal duty. A part of the Hadith is what is commonly known as Sharia Law. Today we’ll begin to examine what this law is, as it is just as much a part of Islam as the Quran.
In our comparative study of Islam and Christianity we must also consider the path of salvation. How does one assure they will enter the kingdom of heaven, or paradise? The topic parallels some of what we learned in our contrasting of Allah and Jehovah since salvation is entwined with the topics of sin and judgment.
There are two approaches necessary for fully understanding Islam. One is to take a 30,000 foot view of it historically and the other is to look at principles and holy writings. We’ll begin this series with the broad overview and narrow our study to specifics and end on notes that may be used when attempting to convert a Muslim to faith in Jesus Christ.
I am pleased to live in Colorado, for it is a state where the beauty of its natural resources and its people is completely incongruous to the events that unfolded in France last week. To the families of the innocent victims we at Think-Biblically.com offer our condolences and our prayers. To the families of the now dead perpetrators of these evil acts, and to all Muslims around the world whether practicing or not, we would like to say:
