2003 Shepherd's Conference, A Ministry of Grace Community Church 818.909.5530. © 2003 All Rights Reserved. Grace Community Church. A CD, MP3, or tape cassette copy of this session can be obtained by going to www.shepherdsconference.org
The Gospel According to Muhammad
(Handout and Study Notes)
Addressing the Fallacies of the Muslim Religion
William D. Barrick, Th.D.
Professor of Old Testament and Director of Doctoral Studies, The Master’s Seminary
Islam means submission. A Muslim is one who is submitted to the will of God. Their prostration in prayers clearly illustrates this concept. For the Muslim it is more important to submit to all that Allah has decided rather than to obtain forgiveness. This results in a kind of fatalism since the Muslim is to submit to his kismet (divinely predestined fate). The Muslim also must be submitted to Islamic authority—agreeing with the teachers of Islam.
The Muslim world is extremely theocentric. Its focus is on God. In Islamic communities the phrases, “Lord willing,” “Praise God,” “In the name of God,” “There is no God but God,” are heard daily. However, in the Western world, with its materialistic, secular, and humanistic viewpoints, God is left out of almost every area of life.
—Patrick O. Cate, “Islamic Values and the Gospel,”
Bibliotheca Sacra 155/619 (July 1998): 356
Both Christians and Muslims believe that God created the world in six days, and that there is a hell and a heaven, angels and devils. They believe in all the prophets of the Old and New Testaments, the virgin birth of Christ, the Second Coming of Christ, the Resurrection, and the Day of Judgment.
—Samuel Shahid, “Christianity Vis-à-vis Islam,”
Southwestern Journal of Theology 44/2 (Spring 2002): 73
1.0 The Oneness (Tahid) of Allah
· Muslims are also called muwahhidun (= “unitarians” or “upholders of the divine unity”).
· Deuteronomy 6:4 — “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!”
· James 2:19 — “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble.” (NKJV)
· 1 Timothy 2:5 — “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” (NKJV)
2.0 The Messengers (Ar-Rusul) of Allah
· A messenger/apostle (rasul) is sent with the Word of God (Scripture) to guide and reform the recipients: Moses (the Taurat), David (the Zabur), Jesus (the Injil), and Muhammad (the Qur’an).
· A prophet (nabi) carries information or proclaims God’s Word, but does not receive a divine Book like the messengers. All messengers are prophets, but not all prophets are messengers. 25 prophets are mentioned in the Qur’an; 124,000 prophets are mentioned in the Hadith: Abel, Noah, Lot, Jonah, John, etc.
Ø Passages of the Old Testament that Muslims claim as predictions regarding Muhammad:
Genesis 49:10; Deuteronomy 18:15, 18; 32:21; 33:2; Psalm 45; 149; Song of Songs 5:16; Isaiah 21:7; 42:1-4; 42:10-12; 53; 54:1; 63:1-6; 65:1-6; Daniel 2:45; Habakkuk 3:3; Haggai 2:7. In addition, the Shi‘ites claim Genesis 17:20 and Jeremiah 46:10.
Ø Passages of the New Testament that Muslims claim as predictions regarding Muhammad:
Matthew 3:2; 17:11; 20:1-16; 21:33-44 (//Mark 12:1-11; Luke 20:9-18); Mark 1:7; John 1:21; 4:21; 14:30; 14:16, 17, 26; 16:13; 1 John 4:2, 3; Jude 14, 15; Revelation 2:26-29.
3.0 The Revealed Scriptures (Al-Kutub)
· Muslims have four acknowledged sources of authority and two that are not acknowledged:
1. The Qur’an
2. Hadith, the traditions of the prophet
3. Qiyas, analogy taught by Muslim scholars and based on the Qur’an and Hadith
4. Ijma, the consensus of the community and especially of Islamic scholars
5. Adat, the custom of the community (fear of the evil eye, the power of saints’ graves to get prayers answered, good luck brought by an unread copy of the Qur’an)
6. Qanun, international law
4.0 The Angels (Malaa-ikah) of Allah
· Most angels are good messengers and helpers of Allah. One, however, is evil: Iblis (= Satan), who was thrown out of heaven for refusing to bow down to Adam (Qur’an 7:11-18).
· Other supernatural beings of fire are the jinn. They are lower than angels, limited in life-span, male or female, good or evil.
5.0 The Last Day of Judgment (Yaum Al-Qiyaamah) and the Hereafter (Al-Aakhirah)
· Divine judgment is associated with divine unity. Divine morality demands judgment for sin.
· The day of judgment and resurrection will be announced by means of a peal of thunder, a shout, or a trumpet blast.
They will blow on the trumpet and everything in the heavens and the earth will be swallowed up by death, save only that which God wishes to preserve. Then another trumpet blast will be sounded and all creatures will suddenly rise to behold the plain of resurrection.” (Qur’an 39:68)
On the day when the summoner (Israfil) summons mankind to awesome resurrection the unbelievers will come forth with their eyes humbled, like locusts scattered abroad, hastening to respond to the summoner to resurrection. The unbelievers shall say to each other: “This is the day of hardship!” (Qur’an 54:6-8)
When the sun shall be darkened, when the stars shall be thrown down, when the mountains shall be set moving, when the pregnant camels shall be neglected, when the savage beasts shall be mustered, when the seas shall be set boiling, when the souls shall be coupled, when the buried infant shall be asked for what sin she was slain, when the scrolls shall be unrolled, when heaven shall be stripped off, when Hell shall be set blazing, when Paradise shall be brought nigh, then shall a soul know what it has produced. (Qur’an 81:1-14)
· The living and the dead shall be assembled in the presence of Allah and judged by the book placed in their hands. The book will be handed to each in either the left hand or the right hand.
· Eternal paradise or eternal hell—the final abodes of the judged. Men in paradise will also have their wives and children together with them.
Given the clarity of these verses [Qur’an 9:63; 11:16; 2:39, 217], it is not possible to give them same [sic] special interpretation in order to deny the permanence of the punishment of hellfire. The text of the verses proclaims that permanent residence in hellfire shall be the lot of those unbelievers for whom all possible avenues to salvation are blocked. As for those who have committed a certain number of lessen [sic] sins and offences, they shall either spend an appropriate amount of time in hellfire or receive the kindness and forgiveness of God.
— Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari, Resurrection Judgement and the Hereafter: Lessons on Islamic Doctrine (Book Three), trans. by Hamid Algar
(N.p.: Foundation of Islamic Cultural Propagation in the World, 1992), 217
6.0 Fate (Qadr) and Divine Decree
· Muslims who are more predestinarian (even holding to double predestination), depend more upon the Hadith than on the Qur’an.
1.0 Who Is Allah?
According to Islamic tradition, the 112th sura of the Qur’an is Muhammad’s own definition of Allah:
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Ever Merciful. Proclaim: He is Allah, the Single; Allah, the Self-Existing and Besought of all. He begets not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him. (Qur’an 112:1-5)
Problem:
Is the Father of Jesus the God of Muhammad? The answer is surely Yes and No. Yes, in the sense that the Father of Jesus is the only God there is. He is the Creator and Sovereign Lord of Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius, of every person who has ever lived. He is the one before whom all shall one day bow (Phil. 2:5-11). Christians and Muslims can together affirm many important truths about this great God—his oneness, eternity, power, majesty. As the Qur’an puts it, he is “the Living, the Everlasting, the All-High, the All-Glorious” (2:256).
But the answer is also No, for Muslim theology rejects the divinity of Christ and the personhood of the Holy Spirit—both essential components of the Christian understanding of God. No devout Muslim can call the God of Muhammad “Father,” for this, to their mind, would compromise divine transcendence. But no faithful Christian can refuse to confess, with joy and confidence, “I believe in God the Father … Almighty!” Apart from the Incarnation and the Trinity, it is possible to know that God is, but not who God is.
—Timothy George, “Is the God of Muhammad the Father of Jesus?” Christianity Today 46/2 (Feb 4, 2002): 34
1.1 Allah Is Transcendent—Creator
Allah is He beside Whom there is no god,
Knower of the unseen and the seen.
He is the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful.
Allah is He beside Whom there is no god,
the Sovereign, the Most Holy,
the Source of Peace, the Bestower of Security,
the Protector, the Mighty,
the Subduer, the Exalted.
Holy is Allah, far above that which they associate with Him.
Allah is He, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner;
His are the most beautiful names.
All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him.
He is the Mighty, the Wise.
—(Qur’an 59:22-24)
1.2 Allah Is One (see 1.0, under Basic Beliefs of Islam, above)
When a Muslim says the Qur’an is “the uncreated speech of God existing in the mind of God from eternity past,” he is saying that the Qur’an and God are two eternal and uncreated things. Yet he says there is only one God. Christians can point out that in a somewhat similar way Christianity holds to three eternal and uncreated persons but one God (John 1:1).
—Patrick O. Cate, “Islamic Values and the Gospel,”
Bibliotheca Sacra 155/619 (July 1998): 361
Problem:
The Qur’an strongly attacked Trinitarians in several places [5:76, 77, 79, 81, 116, 117]. But it is apparent that the Qur’an, or at least Muhammad, has failed to distinguish between the heretical trinity and the biblical trinity. The doctrine opposed in these references was either the Marcionian doctrine of the three gods: the god of justice, the god of mercy, and the god of evil; or the heresy of the Marionites who considered Mary as one of the three hypostases. True Christians all over the world detest this type of Trinity and oppose it as the Qur’an does.
—Samuel Shahid, “Christianity Vis-à-vis Islam,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 44/2 (Spring 2002): 70
1.3 Allah Is Merciful
Every chapter of the Qur’an except one (Surah 9) commences with “In the name of God, the gracious, the merciful.” The Muslim concept of merciful involves His benevolence or providential care—such as granting rain. It is not His gracious mercy in not punishing people as they deserve. Indeed, men and women cannot have a close relationship to Allah—He is too distant and impersonal, too powerful and sovereign.
1.4 Allah Is Holy
1.5 Allah Is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent
1.6 Allah Is Judge
2.0 What is the Qur’an?
2.1 Allah’s Revelation in His Own Words
· The Qur’an is believed to be the ipsissima verba (the very words, exactly) of God Himself. It had been transcribed already in heaven before it was sent. It is considered to be the eternal, uncreated speech of Allah.
· 2 Peter 1:21—“Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (NKJV)
2.2 Delivered by the Angel Gabriel
· Galatians 3:19—“What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.” (NKJV)
· Hebrews 2:2—“For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, …” (NKJV)
2.3 To the Prophet Muhammad
The Qur’an says God told Muhammad, “When in doubt ask those who read the previous scriptures” (Surah 10:95; 16:43). If Muhammad was told to read the Bible, the “previous Scriptures,” should not Muslims read this same authority which God commanded Muhammad to read?
—Patrick O. Cate, “Islamic Values and the Gospel,”
Bibliotheca Sacra 155/619 (July 1998): 361
2.4 Superseding All Previous Revelation
· Most Muslims think of the current Bible (Old and New Testaments) as being different than those to which the Qur’an refers. They think of them as corrupted and, anyway, abrogated.
· The Qur’an itself, however, contradicts this concept of the Muslim: “Say thou: ‘O People of the Book, ye are [founded] upon nothing, until ye observe [or establish] the Taurat and the Injil and that which hath been sent down unto you by your Lord.’” (Qur’an 5:72)
1. The reference shows that the Jews at that time had the Taurat and that the Christians at that time had the Injil.
2. It would be impossible to command those people to obey those books if they did not have them.
3. It would be purposeless to command those people to obey those books if they had already been corrupted.
“Lo! We did reveal the Torah, wherein is guidance and light, by which the prophets who surrendered, pass judgement for the Jews, and the rabbis and the priests by such of Allah’s Scriptures as was entrusted to them and thereunto they are witnesses.” (Qur’an 5:44)
“And we cased Jesus, son of Mary, to follow in their footsteps, confirming that which was revealed before him in the Torah, and We bestowed on him the Gospel wherein is guidance and a light, confirming that which was revealed before it in the Torah a guidance and an admonition unto those who ward off evil.” (Qur’an 5:46)
“And unto you we have revealed the Scriptures with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and watcher over it. So judge between them by that which Allah has revealed therein.” (Qur’an 5:48)
2.5 Superior to the Bible
The fundamental difference between the sacred books of Christianity and Islam is that Christianity lacks a revealed text that was fixed at the very time of its origins, whereas Islam possesses one.
—Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari, The Seal of the Prophets and His Message:
Lessons on Islamic Doctrine (Book Two), trans. by Hamid Algar
(Potomac, Md.: Islamic Education Center, n.d.), 163
2.6 Sunnah: Exemplification and Commentary
3.0 Is there any concept of salvation in Islam?
3.1 Islam summons men to repentance and calls him to return to piety and virtue.
The messengers of God, whose proud lives were never penetrated by any element of sin, would always invite sinners to seek God’s forgiveness and encourage them to place their hopes in His mercy, for His kindness and compassion toward His believing servants are such that He would never abandon them in the dark pit of disobedience and sin. On the contrary, He invites all men to return to Him, and it is up to us to answer His call and thus act to attain our salvation.
God’s acceptance of repentance indicates a particular worthiness in man to receive God’s mercy, a worthiness which causes the gates of forgiveness to remain open before sinners. They have the opportunity to express contrition and shame before God over their dark past and to abandon and attempt to make up for the evil they have committed. If they do this, all their misfortune will be turned to good fortune, and all their darkness to light.
—Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari, Resurrection Judgement and the Hereafter: Lessons on Islamic Doctrine (Book Three), trans. by Hamid Algar
(N.p.: Foundation of Islamic Cultural Propagation in the World, 1992), 163
3.2 Islam opposes “fox hole conversions.”
The one who continues to sin until he witnesses death and then begins to experience regret, saying, “Now I repent”—the repentance of such a one will not be accepted. (Qur’an 4:18)
3.3 Islam proclaims a works-based salvation.
It is only those gifted with understanding who take heed; those who fulfill Allah’s pact and break not the covenant; who join together the ties of kinship that Allah has bidden to be joined, and fear their Lord, and dread the evil reckoning; those who are steadfast in seeking the favour of their Lord, and observe Prayer, and spend secretly and openly out of that with which We have provided them, and overcome evil with good. For them is the best reward of the Hereafter: Gardens of Eternity, which they shall enter and also those who are righteous from among their ancestors, and their consorts and their progeny. (Qur’an 13:20-23)
3.4 Islam’s view of forgiveness differs from that of biblical Christianity.
“Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7) // “Who forgiveth sins save Allah only?” (Qur’an 3:135)
· Forgiveness: cf. Qur’an 39:53; 3:31, 135; 8:29; 19:95; 20:73; 46:31; 57:28; 61:11-12; 71:3-4; 2:284; 3:129; 5:18, 40; 48:14
· Allah’s forgiveness is inscrutable…he forgives whom he will.
· No one can be sure of forgiveness…God will show mercy on the Day of judgment.
· There is no forgiveness for certain sins, like shirk (association of God with a created thing).
· The Qur’an has no highly personal confession like that of Psalm 51:4 (“Against you, you only, have I sinned”).
· The Qur’an does not offer any developed personal human analogies like Hosea or the parable of the Prodigal Son.
3.5 Islam offers some a second chance after death.
Those who have wronged themselves in this world will be asked by the angels when they die what they have done. They will say, “We were weak and oppressed and unable to move.” Then the angels will ask, “Was God’s earth not wide enough for you to travel in it (so that you might hasten from the land of ignorance to that of faith and knowledge)?” The abode of these evildoers shall be hellfire; how evil and terrible an abode! Excepted from this shall be those men, women and children who were indeed unable to act or to move; they could not flee and they had no path of escape. It may be that God will forgive and show mercy to them, for He is Merciful and Pardoning. (Qur’an 4:97-98)
4.0 What are the “Pillars of Islam”?
Muslims are required to be doers of truth, not just hearers or speakers of the truth. Islam is as much action as faith.
· See James 1:22.
4.1 Faith (Confession of Faith)—Shahadah
· “There is no god but Allah. Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” (la ilaha illa Allah. Muhammad rasul Allah.)
4.2 Prayer—Salat
· Five daily times of prayer are to be observed by Muslims:
1. Early morning
2. Noon
3. Mid-afternoon
4. Sunset
5. Evening
· Also, the Friday congregational service is required.
· The formal prayer time in the mosques is not the only kind of prayer a Muslim might offer to Allah. Personal and private prayer is encouraged as well. In such prayers Muslims utilize a strand of 33 prayer beads that helps them to recite the 99 names of God (working through the strand three times).
· Salat is also required for funeral and the two eclipses (sun and moon).
· Prayer is to be oriented toward Mecca.
· The call to prayer (adhan) is recited by the muezzin (mu’adhdhin) from the top of a minaret or the roof of a mosque.
allahu akbar = God is most great (4x)
ashhadu an la ilaha illa allah = I testify that there is no god but Allah (2x)
ashhadu anna muhammadan rasul allah = I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God (2x)
hayya ‘ala al-salat = Hurry to prayer (2x)
hayya ‘ala al-falah = Hurry to success/salvation (2x)
[Only before the early morning salat:
al-salat khayrun min al-naum = Prayer is better than sleep (2x)]
[Shi‘ites, in place of this phrase, in all 5 adhan, say:
hayya ‘ala khayr al-‘amal = Hurry to the best activity (2x)]
allahu akbar = God is most great (2x)
la ilaha illa allah = There is no god but Allah (Sunnis 1x, Shi‘is 2x)
4.3 Almsgiving—Zakat
· Not to be confused with charity (sadaqa).
· Zakat is due once annually and is a percentage of one’s wealth (cash [including gold and silver], merchandise used in trade, minerals, ancient treasure, cattle [including oxen, cows, buffalo, camels, sheep, goats], crops). Non-payment of this “tax” makes the wealth “unclean.”
· Owed by all who have reached their majority (usually, 16 years of age).
· Although some Muslim governments collect and distribute zakat, many governments allow the Muslim to choose the recipients.
4.4 Fasting in the Month of Ramadan—Sawm
· During the 9th lunar month those observing the fast must not eat or drink, smoke, or have marital relations from dawn until sunset.
· During the last 10 days of the fast the “night of power” is observed. It is a night of vigil and spiritual retreat for the men.
4.5 Pilgrimage—Hajj
· The pilgrimage is required once in each Muslim’s adult lifetime. They must be both physically and financially capable of making the pilgrimage. Loans for the hajj are not allowed—no debts may be owed when the pilgrimage is performed.
· The pilgrimage is observed in the last lunar month, on the 8th through 12th days.
· Before entering Mecca, the male pilgrim must put on the while clothing (ihram) for ritual purity.
· The various rites of the hajj are complicated, so guides are provided to help each through the more obscure details. One of the most well-known of the rituals is the circumambulation of the Ka‘ba (3 separate times 7 circumambulations must be completed during the pilgrimage). Muslims believe that both Abraham and Ishmael observed this rite as well as Muhammad.
1. Circumambulation.
2. Prayer at the Place of Abraham—where he worshipped when building the Ka‘ba.
3. The rite of sa‘y, between the hills of Safa and Marwa— remembering Hagar’s expulsion.
4. Haircut—symbolic.
5. On the 9th day of the month: the standing ceremony (wuquf) on the Plain of ‘Arafat—contemplating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Ishmael.
6. Return to Mecca and after the combined sunset and evening salat the pilgrims collect 49 pebbles to be thrown at a symbol of Satan.
7. On the 10th day of the month: the sacrifice of animals commemorating Abraham’s sacrifice of the ram.
8. Haircut.
9. Circumambulation.
10. Symbolic stoning of the devil.
11. Circumambulation.
· One who dies during hajj is considered a martyr of the faith and is granted entrance into paradise.
4.6 ? Holy War — Jihad
· “Striving” or “exertion”—including one’s personal struggles with their baser instincts and lack of faith and devotion.
· If necessary, jihad can involve armed struggle against the enemies of Islam—in self-defense and in righting a wrong.
In its religious context, it always involves a fight against evil, but this can take many forms: jihad of the heart, of the mouth and pen, of the hand, and of the sword. Jihad of heart, mouth, and pen are sometimes spoken of as “spiritual jihad,” particularly among the Shi‘ites (the largest Islamic minority party, comprising roughly 10 percent of the Muslim world).
All Muslims must engage in jihad of the heart, which finds a rough parallel in the Christian command to put to death the sin nature. Muhammad clearly commanded his followers to fight their sinful tendencies, as did Jesus. Islam, though, offers no resistance in this struggle from the Holy Spirit, the counselor and guide promised to Christians.
Jihad of the mouth aims to undermine opposition to Islam through speech that takes one of two forms. The first, verbal argumentation, finds a Christian parallel in the discipline of apologetics. The second, curses and saber-rattling, has roots in pre-Islamic Arabia, where the art of extemporaneous imprecatory poetry was prized as a means of verbal jousting between warring tribes.
Generally, a war of words is considered preferable to one of physical violence. Muslims still employ this tactic. When Saddam Hussein bragged before the Gulf War that coalition troops were facing “the mother of all battles,” he was engaging in a jihad of the mouth.
Jihad of the pen applies the written word to Islam’s defense. Over the last thirteen centuries, much Islamic ink has presented Muhammad as the ultimate prophet of God and his message as the perfect will of Allah for all humanity. The central doctrines of the Christian faith, though sadly misunderstood by many Muslim scholars, have been the special target of Islamic apologetics.
Jihad of the hand seeks to promote the cause of Allah through praiseworthy deeds. Muslims’ exemplary treatment of others and devotion to God are supposed to prove the superiority of their message and serve as a vehicle for the proclamation of their beliefs.
Christians also embrace the concept of jihad of the hand. As Francis of Assisi is credited with saying, “Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.”
—Mateen A. Elass, “Four Jihads,”
Christian History 21/2 [Issue 74] (2002) 35-36
Recommended Reading
Denny, Frederick Mathewson. An Introduction to Islam, 2nd ed. New York: Macmillan Collier, 1994.
Geisler, Norman L., and Abdul Saleeb. Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross, 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2002.
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