What's the Difference?
04/07/2002 - Islam
On September 11, Osama Bin Laden, the world's most notorious terrorist, handed Muslims around the world their worst public-relations nightmare. Every opinion about Islam, every reaction to Muslim doctrine, every Muslim-Christian encounter will forever be cast against the backdrop of the horrible events that happened on that dreadful day.
Yusuf Islam, formerly known as rock singer Cat Stevens, who now promotes Muslim education in England, said shortly after the attacks, "Not only did terrorists hijack planes and destroy human life, they also hijacked the beautiful religion of Islam."
And while the smoke was still rising from the Twin Towers, Muslims around the world began to condemn the attacks and offer their deep sorrow and sympathy to the American people. In fact, every Muslim country, except Iraq, distanced themselves from the attack on America prompting President George W. Bush to say, "Islam is a religion of peace."
One college professor and specialist on religious violence put it this way, "Osama bin Laden is to Islam what Timothy McVeigh is to Christianity." He's not representative of the peace loving Muslim faith.
But then shortly after the initial shock, articles and images started to appear revealing the darker side of Islam, the militant side. Like this one of a Muslim boy holding up an automatic weapon with a sign scotch taped to the barrel that says "Death of Non Muslims."
Reports starting coming from places like Pakistan that on September 11 Muslim boys were running around their schools "celebrating, stabbing their fingers into the palms of their hands, to simulate the planes stabbing into the Twin Towers." We now know that Palestinian authorities went into overdrive to keep similar images of kids celebrating from reaching the media.
And it made us all wonder what do Muslims really think about the attack on America. And how many agree with Osama Bin Laden who said in February 1998, "The ruling to kill the Americans and their allies—civilians and military—is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it."
So which is it? Is Islam a religion of peace? Is Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network just a radical fringe of a peace loving faith? Or is Islam a religion of jihad, holy war, with an agenda to conquer the world in the name of Allah? What would Muhammad, the founder Islam, think of September 11?
Today we continue our series called What's the Difference? with a look at Islam. Islam, along with Christianity and Judaism, is one of the three monotheistic religions in the world today with 1.27 billion followers. One out of every five people on this planet claims to be Muslim, making it the second largest religion next to Christianity. And it's growing rapidly. The United Nations projects that by 2055 at least half of the global birthrate will be Islamic. But of the major world religions, Islam is actually the youngest tracing its roots to its founder Muhammad born in 570 A.D.
But to really understand Islam we have to travel back in time 4,000 years and start where we did with Judaism, with Abraham, the father of the Muslim people. In Genesis 12, God made a promise to Abram. He promised to give him a land, a seed, and a blessing. The dimensions of that land are laid out in Genesis 15:18 where we read, On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates." That's a huge chunk of real estate of which modern day Israel is only a sliver.
Now here's where it gets dicey. God promised that real estate to Abram's descendants. Well, years went by and Abram didn't have any descendants. Abram and Sarah were ready. They bought a bassinet, decorated a nice nursery in their tent, bought a car seat, and a copy of a book with the thousand best Hebrew names. They had everything, but a baby! Finally, they got impatient. So they took matters into their own hands. And with a little encouragement from Sarah, Abram went to bed with Hagar, Sarah's servant girl, and she got pregnant and had a son named Ishmael.
Finally, thirteen years later Abraham and Sarah had Isaac, the miracle baby! And God made it clear that he would fulfill his promise through Isaac not Ishmael. Genesis 17:20-21 says, "As for Ishmael, I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers … But my covenant I will establish with Isaac."
And so the family feud starts, a feud that's lasted 4,000 years. Isaac becomes the father of the Jewish people whose greatest descendant is Jesus. And Ishmael becomes he father of the Arab people whose most famous Muslim is Muhammad.
Muhammad, whose given name was Ubu'l-Kassim, was born in Mecca in what is now called Saudi Arabia in 570 A.D. His father died before he was born and his mother died when he was six. He was then raised first by his grandfather and later by his uncle.
As a young man Muhammad worked as a camel driver and traveled in caravans all over the Arabian Peninsula, which exposed him to a variety of cultures and religions, including Judaism and Christianity. But at that time most of the country was dominated by idols and the worship of pagan gods and goddesses.
When he was twenty-five he went to work for a wealthy widow named Khadijah who was attracted to Muhammad. She admired his intelligence and maturity. And even though she was fifteen years older than he was she proposed to him and soon they were married. And for fifteen years Muhammad lived a life of luxury and affluence. During that time his wife bore him three sons, all who died in infancy, and four daughters, of whom his favorite was Fatima, the only one that lived to maturity.
Muhammad was a rich man, but wealth didn't satisfy him. He was troubled by the widening gap that he saw between the rich and the poor. He began to question his life and the immorality of the world around him. And so to deal with his unrest he would retreat into mountain caves and spend weeks at a time in solitude. And it was during one of these times, at the age of forty, when he claimed to have had a vision from the angel Gabriel.
At first he thought he was going insane and even considered killing himself. But he shared his vision with his wife and she convinced him that it was true. And over the next twenty years Muhammad received more revelations in the cave, which eventually were written down and became known as the noble Koran. The Koran is the most sacred writing to Muslims. Although they also believe that the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospels are inspired by God.
Muhammad boldly declared that there was only one God, Allah, and that he was his prophet and he called the people of Mecca to reject their idol worship. And for doing that he almost got himself killed. So in 622 A.D. he fled two hundred fifty miles north to the city of Medina and established the community of Islam and there built the very first mosque. That event is known as the Hijrah and marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, 622 A.D.
From Medina he set out to conquer the Arabian Peninsula and in doing so killed thousands of people and collected their goods and concubines. One historian writes, "This period was marked by many assassinations instigated or sanctioned by Muhammad and by wholesale slaughter of those opposed to him or whose wealth he coveted for himself, including that of the Jews …. In retaliation for the treachery (of the Jews) he had the men of a whole tribe, 800 in number, slaughtered in cold blood and their women and children sold into slavery." Islam had a bloody beginning.
Finally, eight years later, in 630 A.D., Muhammad took over Mecca and made it the holy city that it is today. He captured a building called the Ka'ba, which means "cube," cleaned out the idols and made it a sanctuary to the one God, Allah. The Ka'ba is the most sacred site in all of Islam. According to tradition, it was built by Abraham on the exact spot where God provided a miraculous well of water to take care of Ishmael and Hagar. The outside of the Ka'ba is covered with curtains and carpets. The inside contains silver and gold lamps, but the most important thing it hold is an oval black stone, seven inches high. Muslims believe it was given to Abraham by an angel and they kiss the stone in hopes of gaining forgiveness from Allah.
Muhammad died in 632 A.D. at the age of 62. And although he had a number of wives, some say as many as fifteen, he never had a son, so he left behind no official successor. But he did leave behind a religion, the religion of Islam. The name Islam means "submission" to Allah and Muslim means "one who submits."
And since that time the Muslim faith has spread throughout much of the world under the leadership of men called Caliphs. Today there are two main sects of Islam, the Sunni's and the Shi'ites. And the main issue that divides them is how leadership is transferred. The Sunni Muslims make up 85% of Islam and they don't believe that the Caliphs need to be direct descendants of Muhammad, but the Shi'ites do. Another smaller sect is the Sufi's, the mystical branch of Islam, who are known for their expressive dances called whirling dervishes. And in the United States you also have about 3 million Black Muslims, a sect that started in the 1930's and gained notoriety in the 1960's under Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali.
Now let's look now at the core beliefs of the Muslim faith. These are the things Muslims must do if they hope to gain salvation. They're called The Five Pillars of Islam.
The first pillar is the Shahadah or the creed of Islam and that is that "there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet." This was the first revelation that Muhammad received from the angel Gabriel. It came to him while he was living in a pagan culture that worshiped many gods. So the angel commanded him to preach that there is only one true God and Muhammad was his prophet. Muhammad never claimed to be God. But he did claim to be God's final prophet, the last of the six major prophets starting with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.
The creed of Islam is emblazoned in Arabic on the flag of Saudi Arabia. Underneath is the sword that symbolizes their military conquests. But the creed is their deepest conviction and is to be said loud and often and in public. It's the very first words that every Muslim baby hears.
The second pillar is Salat which is praying to Mecca fives times a day. Prayers are to be said before sunrise, at midday, in the middle of the afternoon, at sunset and at bedtime. The prayers are meant to keep Muslims in constant contact with Allah. And if you've ever been in a Muslim country you've heard the eerie sound of the muezzin calling people to prayer from high atop the minarets.
Muslims can pray anywhere. But on Fridays, which is their Sabbath, they go to mosque to pray and hear a sermon from the Koran preached by an imam.
The third pillar of Islam is called Zakat or almsgiving. Muhammad had a heart for the poor and required Muslims to give 2.5% of their income those in need as an act of worship and as a way to meet the needs within the Muslim community.
The fourth pillar is called Sawm, which is fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. Each year, for thirty days during the ninth month, Muslims are required to fast from sun up to sun down. During that time they're to go without food, water, tobacco and sex. Ramadan is supposedly the month that Gabriel first appeared to Muhammad. It's the most sacred season of the Muslim calendar.
The fifth pillar is called Hajj and it's the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca. And as the imam said in the video before making the pilgrimage to Mecca you need to have your life in order, your debts paid, and your will written. In reality, only a small percentage of Muslims can afford to make the pilgrimage and have the health to do it, but it's possible to send someone in your place. Pilgrims come from all over the world to the Great Mosque in Mecca and circle the Ka'ba seven times before they enter it and touch or kiss the sacred black stone inside.
Those are the five pillars of Islam that Muslims must do to achieve salvation. But there's a sixth pillar, a way to guarantee your salvation in the Muslim faith. And it's called jihad, which literally means "exertion in the cause of God." Jihad is "holy war" and war is an acceptable way of spreading Islam. And any Muslim who dies killing unbelievers for the sake of God goes straight to paradise. That was the belief of Mohamed Atta and the rest of the hijackers who died on September 11. Which is the belief of suicide bombers who blow themselves up on the streets of Jerusalem. Their sacrifice for the cause of Islam gains them an all expense paid trip to paradise. Jihad is a win-win for Muslims. It advances the cause and takes you to heaven!
The Koran states in Surah 47:4, When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly … As for those who are slain in the cause of God, He will not allow their works to perish. He will vouchsafe them guidance and ennoble their state. He will admit them to the Paradise He has made known to them.
Now while Islam includes some wonderful things like the belief in one God and the priority of prayer and the importance of caring for the poor there are some major differences with the Christian faith. Let's look at What's the Difference?
First, Islam's God is remote and distant. He's our creator and our sustainer, the Sovereign Lord of the universe, but he's distant. He doesn't desire to know us. In Islam God is a Judge to be feared, not a Father to be loved. And I wonder how much of that goes back to the fact that Muhammad never had a Dad. His father died before he was born. The Christian God, on the other hand, is both powerful and personal, he lovingly gets involved in our lives. Allah is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible wants us to know him. In fact, in John 17:3 we read, Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
And that's the second difference, Jesus Christ. Muslims don't believe Jesus is God. They don't have a Trinity. In their view, Jesus is a great prophet, second only to Muhammad himself. They believe he was born of a virgin, did miracles, was sinless, and is even coming again. But they don't believe he died on the cross. That was someone else that looked like Jesus maybe Judas or Simon of Cyrene. They don't believe Jesus rose from the dead. Instead, they believe he was assumed into heaven before he died. He's clearly supernatural, but to say Jesus is God would violate the Muslim creed. So Muhammad ignored the claims of Christ about himself.
Third, Muslims believe that people are weak and in need of guidance. Christians believe people are sinners in need of a Savior. Muslims believe that we're all born good, but we've been corrupted by non-Islamic cultures. So the best hope for salvation is to eliminate non-Muslim influences and advance Islam, by force if necessary. Islamic law is what people need.
Fourth, salvation in Islam is based on works not on faith. There is no grace. One day we will all stand before God in judgment and he will put our works in the scales. And if our good deeds out weigh our bad deeds we'll enter a paradise filled with sensual pleasure. But if our bad deeds outweigh our good deeds we will end up in the furnace of hell. God's mercy could tip the scales in our favor. But we can't trust him because his mercy is arbitrary and uncertain.
The problem with all that is that Jesus said being good is not good enough. We need to be perfect to get into God's heaven. In Matthew 7:7 he said, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Which is why our only hope comes in trusting the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.
Islam puts a tremendous burden on our shoulders. Which is why I wasn't surprised to discover that the verse that means the most to Muslims who come to know Christ is Matthew 11:28, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Many Muslims feel weighed down by the burden of their religion.
And finally, there's no assurance of salvation in Islam as with any works based system. You can never know if you're good enough to get to heaven. Even the greatest Muslim in the whole world can't know for sure if they'll get to paradise. Abu Bakar the first Caliph who succeeded Muhammad was a man of sterling character and a true Muslim. Everybody loved him. But on his deathbed he cried out, "I don't know what's going to happen to me. I'm going to face God and I only hope he'll accept me."
Contrast that with what the apostle John writes in 1 John 5:13, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. God wants us to know we have eternal life through his Son Jesus. He wants me to know I'm in his family as much as I know I'm in the Carter family. And that he'll accept me into his heaven, not because of who I am, but because of what Jesus did for me. We don't have to be good enough for God. We just need to believe he's good enough for us.
So which is it? Is Islam a religion a peace? Or is it a religion of war? The answer to both questions is "yes." Most Muslims throughout the world are wonderful, peace loving, law abiding, hardworking, family oriented people. The kind of people you would love to have as neighbors. They deplore the events of September 11 and will celebrate when Osama Bin Laden if finally brought to justice. But on the other hand, it's difficult to deny that their faith has a militant past and their sacred writings promise eternal life to those who hijack and set off bombs in the name of Allah.
Like it or not ancient worldviews are again struggling for world domination. We don't all worship the same God. Muhammad is dead. You can visit his tomb in the city of Medina. Jesus is alive. His tomb is empty in the city of Jerusalem. He's more than a prophet. He's our living Savior who offers eternal life to all who believe in him. Do you believe in him?