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Understanding & Answering ISLAM
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• Islamist leaders have called for a worldwide jihad until all people are subjugated to the Will of Allah through Islam. Is there a theological basis for this claim? Is violent jihad valid for today? How should Christians respond? What will resolve this growing societal cancer? These are some of the questions that I hope to resolve in this presentation.

• (1) Truth about reality is knowable, and
• (2) the opposite of true is false.
• This leads to the Law of Noncontradiction that states that a true statement and its opposite cannot both be true at the same time in the same sense.

Islam
Tawhid
Christianity
Trinity
Jesus only a Prophet Jesus is God
Jesus taken into heaven Jesus actually died on the cross
The Bible has been corrupted
The Bible is the trustworthy Word of
God

• Most Muslims in the world want the same things that we want: peace, prosperity and a chance to pursue positive goals
• About 15% are said to be “Radical
Muslims” (around 240 million)*
*Bridgette Gabrielle estimates 15-25%, or up to 400 million

• John of Damascus (675-750)
• “Heresy of the Ishmaelites”
Islam probably began as a heresy of Christianity
Much of the Qur’an may have been derived from other religious traditions
Muhammad may have been an obscure religious figure later promoted to the role of Allah’s prophet
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Isla m

A. Root of Power:
Nature of Allah
B. Qur’anic Mandate
C. Logical Extreme
D. Function of Power in Islam
E. Is Islam a Religion of
Peace?
“Faulty foundations produce faulty beliefs ”

• The fundamental belief in Islam is
“there is only one God”
• This is known as “ ديحوت ” (tawḥīd), or the “Absolute Oneness” of God.
– God is “One” (Al-ʾAḥad)
– God is a “singularity” (Al-Wāḥid)
• Allah is “Absolutely Other”
1A. Root of Power: Nature of Allah

• In the name of God, the Gracious, the
Merciful.
• 1. Say, "He is God, the One.
• 2. God, the Absolute.
• 3. He begets not, nor was He begotten.
• 4. And there is nothing comparable to
Him."
• Q. 112:1-4
1B. Qur ’anic Mandate

• Sura 4:171 - Say not "Trinity" : desist: it will be better for you: for Allah is one Allah: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son.
• Therefore, Allah cannot be the same god as Yahweh, for “how can the God of Muhammad be the Father of
Jesus?”
1B. Qur ’anic Mandate

• The greatest “sin” in Islam, called
“Shirk,” is to associate another thing with Allah.
• Christians commit “Shirk” with their belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God.
• This is the one “sin” that can never be forgiven:
1C. Logical Extreme

• Sura 4:48:
• “God does not forgive the joining of partners with Him: anything less than that He forgives to whoever He will, but anyone who joins partners with God has fabricated a tremendous sin.”
1C. Logical Extreme

• Muslims will answer in the affirmative:
– Sura 2:195 - surely Allah loves the doers of good
– Sura 2:222 - For Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean
– Sura 3:76 - surely Allah loves those who guard (against evil).
– Sura 3:146 - And Allah loves those who are firm and steadfast
– Sura 3:159 - For Allah loves those who put their trust (in
Him).
– Sura 5:13 - Allah loves those who are kind.
• However, it is a very conditional love. Allah does not love those who do not submit to him.
1C. Logical Extreme

• “Allah loves not the unbelievers” (Q3.33)
• "Allah loves not the impious and sinners"
(Q2.277)
• “Allah loves not evildoers” (Q3. 58)
• “Allah loves not the proud” (Q4. 37)
• “Allah loves not transgressors” (Q5. 88)
• “Allah loves not the prodigal” (Q6. 142)
• “Allah loves not the treacherous” (Q7.59)
• “Allah is an enemy to unbelievers” (Q2. 99)
• Contrast with the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son….” (John 3:16)
1C. Logical Extreme

• For love to exist, there must be two entities involved, the lover and the one who is loved.
• If Allah is an absolute singular being, where does the love come from? Who was there to love before the creation of man? If Allah were alone, on whom did he bestow love?

• However, in the Trinity, there has always been love between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

• Allah is pure Will rather than love.
• Pure Will demands submission, not love.
• Islam means “submission,” and a Muslim is one who “submits.”
• Allah can never be called Father, and
Muslims can never be known as the children of God.
• Where is the relationship? Where is the love?
1D. Function of Power in Islam

• Nothing happens unless decreed by
Allah
• Say: “Nothing shall ever happen to us except what Allah has ordained for us. He is our Mawla (protector).” And in Allah let the believers put their trust.
• Sura 9:51
1D. Function of Power in Islam

• When the prime expression from Allah is his
Will, then the prime motivation from his followers will tend to be
FEAR.
• When the prime expression from God is his
LOVE, then the prime motivation from his followers will tend to be
LOVE.
“Faulty foundations produce faulty beliefs ”

• Five Functions according to a Muslim
(Imran Hosein)
1. The first function of power in Islam is deterrence. Power acts as a deterrent to your enemies.
2. Power is to be used in response to aggression.
3. Fight for the cause of the weak, helpless, and oppressed.
1D. Function of Power in Islam

• Five Functions (Imran Hosein)
4.The fourth function of power is to persuade others of the truth.
5.Power is needed to establish order and justice, and collect taxes for the benefit of others. Power is needed in order to bring peace.
1D. Function of Power in Islam

1E. Is Islam a Religion of Peace?

S
L
M
–Peace
S L
M
–Submission Corpse or
S L
M
–One who submits
Corps?

Subjugation of your “ heart ” to the will of
Allah
Subjugation of the “ infidel ” to the religion of
Islam

• “ Idolaters and unbelievers were considered enemies of the Islamic community.
• The world was divided into two areas: the world of Islam and the world of disobedience.
•George Braswell, Jr.

• “Through struggle and warfare the world of disobedience was to be brought under the authority and subjugation of the world of
Islam.
• Thus Islam was the correct and pure religion, and jihad was the method to bring others into it through conversion or through domination.
”
• George Braswell, Jr.

• For Muslims, there will only be Peace when the whole world is under the domination of
Islam
Cupofjoe.goodfight.org

A. Nature of Man: Servant, or Slave, of
Allah
B. The Qur’an and Jihad
C. Muhammad and Jihad
D. The Appeal of Jihad Today
E. Is ISIS Islamic?

• Man is a slave of Allah
• There is no original sin, so there is no need for a savior
• Man is not created in the image of
God
• Man needs to please Allah in order to gain entrance into Paradise
– Jihad is often seen as the key

1.6 billion Muslims in the world
99.9% = the percentage of Muslims in the West who claim to be peaceful and against radical Islam (i.e. president
Barack Obama)
.1% = 1,600,000 Muslims

• Jihadists (radicals)
• Islamists
• Fundamentalists
• Moderate
• Liberal

250,000 to 500,000 out of 1.6 billion = .03%
Less than .1%

Support for violent Jihad could be over 25% or 400 million
Muslims!

• ‘Needed: A New Church Policy toward Islam [Pt. 2]’
• by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine — February 4,
2015

• “As long as the faith is taken seriously, jihad will be taken seriously. The jihad won’t stop until the belief system that inspires it is undermined and dismantled.
It is greatly in our interest that Muslims begin to take their faith less seriously.
Thus, it is necessary to undertake the difficult and subtle work of discrediting
Islam. Among other things, this discrediting process would involve questioning the authenticity of
Muhammad’s revelation, questioning his character and reliability, and even questioning his existence.” (same article)
• Needed: A New Church Policy toward Islam [Pt. 2]’
• by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine — February 4, 2015

• “Jihad is an essential ingredient of
Islamic philosophy and all who truly love the Koranic faith are devoted to jihad. The concept of jihad is the nail on which hang all rationales for the use of political power, military force, and terrorist violence to advance the
Islamic cause.”
Michael Youssef, PhD, Blindsided: The Radical Islamic Conquest , 93.

• “Our Prophet, the Messenger of our Lord, has ordered us to fight you till you worship Allah
Alone or give Jizya (i.e. tribute); and our Prophet has informed us that our Lord says: ‘Whoever amongst us is killed (i.e. martyred), shall go to
Paradise to lead such a luxurious life as he has never seen, and whoever amongst us remain alive, shall become your master’”.
• —Sahih al-Bukhari
• Volume 4, Book 53, Number 386.1

”Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war.
Those who say this are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that
Muslims should sit back until they are devoured by the unbelievers? Islam says:
Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter their armies…. Islam says:
Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword!

The sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy
Warriors! There are hundreds of other
(Qur’anic) psalms and Hadiths urging
Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.”
•—
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
• (cited in Coughlin, 2007, p. 223)
• Also quoted in Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic
Terrorism (1987) by Amir Taheri, pp. 241-3 .

The word “jihad” appears in 23 Qur’anic passages for a total of 41 times in the Qur ’an. It is often found in the phrase
“striving in the way of Allah,” (al-jihad fi sabil Allah)

• The Qur’an’s 164 Jihad Verses:
• K 002:178-179, 190-191, 193-194, 216-218, 244;
003:121-126, 140-143, 146, 152-158, 165-167,169, 172-
173, 195; 004:071-072, 074-077, 084, 089-091, 094-
095,100-104; 005:033, 035, 082; 008:001, 005, 007,
009-010, 012, 015-017, 039-048,057-060, 065-075;
009:005, 012-014, 016, 019-020, 024-026, 029,036, 038-
039, 041, 044, 052, 073, 081, 083,086, 088, 092, 111,
120, 122-123; 016:110; 022:039, 058, 078; 024:053,
055; 025:052; 029:006, 069; 033:015, 018, 020, 023,
025-027, 050; 042:039; 047:004, 020, 035; 048:015-024;
049:015; 059:002, 005-008, 014; 060:009; 061:004, 011,
013; 063:004; 064:014; 066:009; 073:020; 076:008 www.Answering-Islam.org

• According to orientalist Bernard
Lewis, "the overwhelming majority of classical theologians, jurists", and specialists in the hadith "understood the obligation of jihad in a military sense.”
Bernard Lewis, The Political Language of Islam (University of
Chicago Press, 1988), p. 72

1. Sura 9:5 reads:
“ Fight and slay the pagans (i.e. infidels) wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war.
”

• 2. Sura 5:33 reads: “ The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His Messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or exile from the land.
”

• Violence flows out of the primary characteristic of God in Islam: Power.
• God is affirmed as being able to do anything, including making what is right, wrong, and making that which is wrong, right.
• Thus his righteousness is subordinate to his power.

• Interestingly, there is only one thing which
Islam affirms God cannot do -- become incarnate.
• Islam denies the sonship of Christ, and affirms the impossibility of God coming in the flesh.
• Thus the Trinity is also denied.

• Poverty?
• Oppression?
• Injustice?
• OR
• Success against the infidel
• Fidelity to the Qur’an
• Promise of instant rewards in Paradise

“ISIS IS NOT ISLAMIC”
President Obama
Washington Post
September 11, 2014

October 12, 2014

Why do our political leaders deny the connection between Islam and the Islamic State?
“ISIS IS NOT ISLAMIC”
Is this a case of “Pernicious Cognitive Dissonance,” or do they think their obfuscation will prevent mayhem?

• “The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic.
Very Islamic. Yes, it has attracted psychopaths and adventure seekers, drawn largely from the disaffected populations of the Middle East and
Europe. But the religion preached by its most ardent followers derives from coherent and even learned interpretations of Islam.”
• Graeme Wood, “What ISIS Really Wants,” The
Atlantic Monthly, March 2015

Literal interpretation of the Qur’an and Hadith

Interpreting a verse
• 9:29: Allah commands the Muslim believers to “Fight those among the
People of the Book who do not believe in
Allah nor the Last Day, nor forbid what
Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.”

9:29: Allah commands the Muslim believers to “Fight those among the People of the
Book who do not believe in Allah nor the Last Day, nor forbid what Allah and His
Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth, until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.”
• Liberal Muslim:
– This was only for the time of Muhammad
• Moderate Muslim:
– This is only for defensive war and when a proper Jihad has been called by the Muslim state
• Radical Muslim:
– This is for today and against anyone who does not believe that Allah is the true God and that the Qur’an is the true revelation given to Muhammad. Muslims need to fight until the whole world is under the domination of Islam.

Literal interpretation of the Bible

“We should be nice to everyone ”
“We should try to be good examples to others so that our witness may lead them to Christ ”
“We should live sacrificially and seek to actively reach out in word and deed in order to win the world for Christ ”

ISIS does nothing that the Qur’an does not command

Terrorism
ISIS
Blasphemy against Allah: Death
Blasphemy against the Prophet
Muhammad: Death – even if the accuser repents
Qur’an
“strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah” (8:60)
Qur’an 5:33-34
Qur’an 33:57
Blasphemy against Islam: Death
Apostasy: Death
Fighting and killing non-Muslims
Qur’an 9:12
Qur’an 4:89
Qur’an 2:216
Sodomy (homosexuality): Death for the person committing the act, as well as for the one receiving it
Theft: Cutting off the hand
Qur’an 4:15-16
Qur’an 5:38

ISIS does nothing that Muhammad did not first do fourteen centuries ago

Terrorism
Collateral damage (killing of innocents)
Mutilation
Torture
ISIS
Killing the men and taking the women and children as slaves
Muhammad
“I have been sent with the shortest expressions bearing the widest meanings, and I have been made victorious with terror…” (Sahih Bukhari 4.52.220).
“when asked about the women and children of the polytheists being killed during the night raid, said: they are from them.” (Muslim 4321)
“If Allah gives me victory over the
Quraysh at any time, I shall mutilate thirty of their men!” (Ibn Ishaq 387; Al-Tabari, vol. 7, p133
“Torture him until you extract what he has” (Ibn Ishaq 515)
Massacre of the Banu Qurayza:
Muhammad was responsible for the death of over 600 men (Ibn Ishaq)

• “Virtually every major decision and law promulgated by the Islamic State adheres to what it calls, in its press and pronouncements, and on its billboards, license plates, stationery, and coins, “the Prophetic methodology,” which means following the prophecy and example of Muhammad, in punctilious detail.

• Muslims can reject the Islamic State; nearly all do. But pretending that it isn’t actually a religious, millenarian group, with theology that must be understood to be combatted, has already led the United States to underestimate it and back foolish schemes to counter it.”

A. God of Power vs God of Love
B. Understand, Defend, and Refute
C. Build Relationships
D. Build Bridges
E. What is the Final Solution?

• When the prime expression from Allah is Power, then the prime motivation from his followers will tend to be
FEAR.
• When the prime expression from God is his LOVE, then the prime motivation from his followers will tend to be
LOVE.
3A. God of Power vs God of Love

By Daniel Janosik © 2014
3B. Understand, Defend, Refute

• Visit mosques
• Invite Muslim colleagues to meals
• Volunteer to teach
English
• Help out with campus ministries
• Encourage your church to begin outreach ministries

• Develop a true friendship
• Build trust
• Ask good questions
• Read the gospels together
• Pray for your
Muslim friends

• Always be ready to give an answer!
• There will be true peace for everyone who believes in Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior!

DanielJanosik.com
djanosik@ses.edu
ChristianPublishers.org