Islam

Islam is the largest religion in the world and rapidly growing. Today there are approximately 850 million Muslims worldwide accounting for one-sixth of the world's population. Estimates are that by the year 2000 there will be one billion Muslims in the world. The largest Muslim country is Indonesia, with over 154 million Muslims.

No matter how peaceful many Muslims are, their core doctrine allows for no other faith to exist peacefully alongside them. Muslims are very militant as the news will attest.

Muslims claim that Allah is the same God as Christians worship, just under another name. Allah is derived from an Arabian deity that was known to pre-Islamic Arabs. It was a moon god represented by a black stone which was believed to have come down from heaven. In Arabia the sun god was viewed as the male god. In pre-Islamic times, Allah, the moon god, was married to the sun god, and together they produced three goddesses called "The Daughters of Allah". The symbol of the worship of the moon god, Allah, in pre-Islamic Arab culture throughout the Middle East was the crescent moon. Today the crescent moon is on every flag of an Islamic nation. Go to any mosque; what is on top of it? A crescent moon, the symbol of Allah. Yet many Muslims don't even know why it is there.

Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. and lived for 62 years, dying in 632. According to Muslim tradition, the angel Gabriel came to Muhammad and revealed revelations to him. Actually there are four different statements of what happened (in the Koran, the Muslim holy book) which contradict each other. The Koran was not written until years after the visions and revelations because Muhammad himself was uneducated and probably did not even know how to write.

He received revelations that he was to loot and steal from caravans that were passing through. There were many cases in which Muhammad and his followers would loot and rob caravans and then kill the men. The Koran and history report that he fought over 66 battles, killing tens of thousands of people. In one of his revelations, Muhammad was told to kill and drive out all the Jews. One time he had 1,000 Jewish men brought together and had them all beheaded. In 628 A.D. Muhammad received a revelation that Islam was to be exalted above all other religions, including Christianity and Judaism. In 629 Muhammad raised up an army of 10,000 men and returned to Mecca, where he had been raised to conquer it. By force, he imposed Islam on the rest of the Arabian tribes.

The Six Beliefs of Islam

  1. God: There is one true God, named Allah.
  2. Angels: They are the servants of God, through whom He reveals His will. The greatest angel is Gabriel, who appeared to Muhammad. Everyone has two "recording angels" one to record good deeds, the other to record bad deeds.
  3. The Prophets: Allah has spoken through many prophets, but the final and greatest is Muhammad. Other prophets include Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
  4. The Holy Books: The Koran or Quran is the holiest book of Islam, believed to be Allah's final revelation to man. It supersedes all previous revelations, including the Bible. It contains 114 chapters or Suras. Muslims also recognize the Law of Moses, the Psalms, and the Gospels but consider them to be badly corrupted.
  5. The Day of Judgment: A terrible day on which each person's good and bad deeds will be balanced to determine his fate.
  6. The Decree of God: Allah ordains the fate of all. Muslims are fatalistic, "If Allah will it" is the comment of a devout Muslim on almost every situation or decision he faces.

The Six Pillars of Islam

  1. Affirmation (Shahada): "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."
  2. Prayer (As-Salah): Muslims are required to pray five times a day, kneeling and facing Mecca.
  3. Almsgiving (Zakah): A worthy Muslim must give 2.5 percent of his income to the poor.
  4. The Fast (Siyam): Faithful Muslims fast from dawn to dusk every day during the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, Ramadan, which is sacred.
  5. The Pilgrimage (Al-Hajj): Muslims are expected to journey to Mecca at least once on their lifetime.
  6. The Holy War (Jihad): The intent to spread Islam by force.

Islam teaches that Jesus was a messenger of God, not the Son of God. They deny that He is Almighty God come in the flesh.

Muslims deny that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, (most believe that Judas died in his place) and they deny that He arose from the dead.

Islam also teaches that Allah is an unknowable being, impossible to approach or comprehend.

Islam also teaches that Jesus was not the way, but that he could only point the way to Muhammad.

A very subservient and legalistic belief system; one which gains total control over a person.

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