Sermon Tone Analysis

A Survey Of Islam

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Islam is a religious, social and political force & every Christian should be aware of it.

With so many millions embracing the Islamic faith and with entire countries ruled and dominated by Islamic teachings, practices and laws their world-view is becoming more

A SURVEY OF ISLAM

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Islam is a religious, social and political force and every Christian should be aware of it.

With so many millions (& soon to be billions) embracing the Islamic faith and with entire countries ruled and dominated by Islamic teachings, practices, and laws their world-view is becoming more and more prevalent, even in America.

[The number of mosques has increased significantly in the U.S. in the last decade.

There was a 74 % increase in the number of Islamic houses of worship rose from 1,209 in the year 2000 to 2,106 in 2010.

USA Today, February 29,2012.]

Our world is dependent on Islamic nations for a major portions of its oil needs.

Western towns, universities, and businesses are seeing a larger influx of Muslims than ever before in history.

We need to equip ourselves to give a defense of biblical faith against the aggressive claims of Islam and be able to share effectively in love the Good News of Jesus Christ with the followers of Mohammad.

With awareness of this challenge let us begin our survey of Islam.

To facilitate our study let’s use the following outline:

I. DEFINITIONS

II.

BRIEF HISTORY / BACKGROUND.

III.

WRITINGS.

IV.

CORE BELIEFS OF ISLAM.

V. THE 5 PILLARS OF ISLAM

VI.

PRACTICES / SHARIA LAW

VII.

ISLAMIZATION

VIII.

TERRORISM AND RADICAL ISLAM

IX.

HOW THEN CAN WE REACH A MUSLIM WITH THE GOSPEL?

SOME DEFINITIONS

Islam, like many religions, has its own vocabulary to describe its beliefs.

A quick look at some of the most important religious terms in Islam will help us as we discuss Islamic history and belief.

Islam, the Arabic term for "submission," is the name of the religion that came out of the revelations and teachings of Muhammad.

[Present day emphasis is on the established system of religious beliefs and practices.]

Muslim is the name given to one who adheres to the religion of Islam.

Muslim is a cognate of Islam, and means "one who submits."

The Muslim submits to the will of Allah as revealed by Muhammad.

Allah is the Arabic term for God.

Muslims feel strongly that the English word God does not convey the real meaning of the word Allah.

Muhammad was an Arab born in the city of Mecca in A.D. 570 (died A.D. 632).

He claimed that he was the prophet to restore true religion and the praise of Allah throughout the world, just as Jesus Christ was a prophet in His time for His people.

Muhammad means "the one who is praised."

Qur’an (Koran is the older spelling) is Arabic for "the recitation," and refers to the collection of revelations supposedly given by Allah through his archangel to Muhammad and preserved as the Islamic scripture.

Muslims believe in the Law of Moses, the Psalms of David, and the Injil, or Gospel of Jesus Christ.

However, they believe that those Scriptures were superseded by the scripture given through Muhammad, and that the Bible used by Christians and Jews is a distorted version of those other scriptures.

Wherever the Bible contradicts Islam, the Muslim says the Bible is incorrect.

Sura refers to the divisions within the Qur’an, much like the "chapters" in the Bible.

The Qur’an contains 114 revelations, each composing one sura or chapter.

Apart from the famous first chapter of the Qur’an, the shortest revelations appear first, the longest ones last.

The Hadith, Arabic for the "collected traditions," is also important in Islamic literature.

These are the supposed words and deeds of Muhammad and are used to provide the basis of every aspect of Islamic law and practice.

Caliph is Arabic for "deputy" and refers to the main leaders of Islam, especially the immediate successors of Muhammad.

Ayatollah refers to a spiritual master or leader in Shi’ite Islam (2nd largest school of thought among the ½ dozen or so, main type in Iran.

Shi’ite means partisans -of Ali).

[Imam refers rightful leader of Shi’ite Islam.]

The imam is the permanent prayer leader of a mosque or congregation in Sunni Islam (far & away the largest school of thought among the ½ dozen or so).

[The Kingdom of the Cults, Walter Martin.

Bethany House.

2003.

pp 436-7.]

Jihad refers to a Muslim holy war or spiritual struggle against infidels.

It is the doctrine that calls on Muslims to combat the enemies of their religion.

It is a holy war or crusade undertaken as Islamic duty.

The jihad of the sword involves waging war against enemies of Islam.

Muslims contend that those who die in combat become martyrs and are guaranteed a place in paradise.

In strict Islamic law jihad is a duty on all adult male believers until Islam has attained universal domination; hence there can be no peace with unbelievers but only limited truces.

Another word that shares the same root word is mujahed (guerrilla fighter), mujahedin is the plural form.

II.

BRIEF HISTORY / BACKGROUND.

Islam dates from the time of the last ten years of the life its founder, Muhammad Ibne Abdullah, or simply the prophet Muhammad.

He was born at or around 570 A.D. in the city of Mecca, which is now located in Saudi Arabia.

Muhammad was orphaned early in his life and tradition says that he was raised by his grandfather [who also died] and then his uncle, Abu Talib.

Muhammad (age 25) was a poor man until he married a wealthy widow named Khadija (age 41).

His wife gave him love, wealth, leisure, and an influential position Meccan society.

He had two sons, who die in infancy, and four daughters.

At about the age of 40, Muhammad is said to have begun to see visions and receive revelations.

It was at this time that Muhammad began preaching publicly against the multiplicity of idols which were worshiped at Mecca’s central shrine, the Ka’ba [meaning “cube” with its black stone- a meteorite].

Muhammad believed, or at least reported, that he had received his visions from Allah, through the angel Gabriel.

For his monotheistic beliefs he was an enemy to many, not the least of which were the merchants whose wealth stemmed from the sale of goods and idols to pilgrims traveling to the Ka’ba to worship their gods.

Muhammad and his many followers were forced to leave Mecca for Yathrib, a mainly Jewish city 280 miles north where Muhammad had converted some pilgrims coming to Mecca.

So many became converts that the city became what became known as Medina, “the city of the Prophet.”

From that time it took Muhammad, only ten years to build his band of followers into a strong army which conquered nearly all of central and western Arabia.

Muhammad, who had been previously cast out of Mecca, returned less than a decade later and made it his capital.

Muhammad was clearly a great military leader.

He also considered himself to be the prophet of Allah, and as such, he founded Islam, which he taught was a return to the pure worship of the one true God of Abraham.

Muhammad believed that God’s true path came from Ishmael the first son born of Hagar to Abraham, when Abraham disobeyed God’s command to wait for a child to be born of his aging wife, Sarah ().

[God had already preserved His written word through the nation of Israel, through Abraham’s son Isaac.

He had already fulfilled the promises made to Abraham through His son, Jesus Christ.]

This connection is crucial to understanding the Islamic religion.

The Ka’ba, which was the central shrine of Arabs in Mecca, Muhammad believed to have been built by Abraham as a place of worship to God.

Muhammad considered Abraham to be his father and thus, the religion he founded was to be, not so much a new thing, but a return to the worship of the one true God of his father.

It is important to note, however, that the name given to god by Muhammad, Allah, does not find its roots in the true worship of Abraham, but in pagan traditions.

“Allah corresponded to the Babylonian god Baal, and Arabs knew of him long before Mohammed worshiped him as the supreme.

Allah was the god of the local Qurish tribe which was Mohammed’s tribe before he invented Islam to lead his people out of their polytheism.

Allah was known as the Moon God, of which he had 3 daughters who were viewed as intercessors for the people into Allah.

Mohammed drove the other idols away; he made one god now the only god and he was its messenger.

Mohammed used the name Allah, which was of a specific idol without ever distinguishing it from the idol the Meccans were already worshiping… These names show the devotion of Mohammed’s pagan roots, and also prove that Allah was part of a polytheistic system of worship before Allah was made the supreme and only god from the other God’s.