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.
This has been a long topical series, perhaps the longest in our short history here at Think-Biblically. Hopefully it has been informative and helped every reader learn a little something about both their role in this world, their duty before God, and an appropriate response to conflict. In concluding our study of Islam I’d like to review what we learned.
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.
We ended yesterday’s blog with a question: What is a peace-loving society to do when presented with Islamic hatred? We have moved from the personal response, which is to love people as creations of God regardless of their personal beliefs and try to convince them of the truth of the gospel, to a national response of one state verses another which does not adhere to the same set of rules and instruction from the Bible.
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.
