THE RELIGION OF ISLAM
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SPECIAL SERIES:
The Spread of Islam
The Afterlife
The Koran (Encourager of Peace or Violence?)
Koran vs. the Bible (Various Discrepancies)
Jesus Christ and Islam
Summary from Last Lesson
• In our last lesson, we noted that one of the ways
that Muslims may enter Paradise is to die for the
cause of Allah – this raises pertinent questions:
– Does the Koran command the killing of Christians?
– Are Muslims engaged in a Holy War?
– Is Islam a religion that encourages peace or violence?
• Let’s examine two points:
– The progression of Islam and who they target
– What the Koran actually says regarding peace and
violence
September 11, 2001
September 11, 2001
September 11, 2001
The Progression of Islam and
Who They Target
• First of all, there are peaceful Muslims.
• They try to make the point that Islam means
“peace.”
• They explain that the Jihad is just the individual and
intellectual struggle to overcome things in this life
that Allah would have removed from their life.
The Progression of Islam in America
Occurs in Four Stages
• Evangelism – coupled with persecution they
continue to evangelize until a large base of
supporters occurs.
• Consolidation – this is when tolerance diminishes
and they begin to demand more from their base.
• Revolution – this is where all opposition is
challenged and eliminated.
• Jihad or Holy War – if peaceful means fail, then they
turn to the Jihad.
How Muslims Penetrate the
Hearts of Unbelievers
• They target the academic world with Islam:
– Purdue University: Religious Studies Minor
• PHIL 50500 Islamic & Jewish Philosophy and the Classical Tradition
• HIST 24500 Islamic Civilization: A Historical & Cultural Survey
• They target prisons with Islam:
– More than 300,000 prisoners are converts to Islam
(conversion rate may be more)
– The appeal to Muslim may be a change in a new Muslim
name, hygiene, diet, acceptance into the prison’s
influential Islamic population.
– There are Muslim chaplains in these prisons now.
How Muslims Penetrate the
Hearts of Unbelievers
• They target minorities with Islam:
– They focus on African Americans, Hispanics and Native
Americans.
– They stress Islam’s teaching on charity and social
equality.
• They target urban centers with Islam:
– An average of one mosque opens every week in the U.S.
– This raises the awareness of Islam in a community.
What Does the Koran
Teach about Jihad?
• When we think of Jihad, we often think of the
terrorists that flew the airplanes into the WTC.
– When, in fact, the average Muslim follows jihad in the
sense of a personal struggle.
– The radical extremists believe that those who refuse to
engage in Jihad are cowardly and without genuine fidelity
to Islam.
• Consider these passages in the Koran:
– Surah 2:190-191
Surah 2:190-191
“Fight those in the way of God (who fight you), but do not be
aggressive: God does not like aggressors. And fight those who
fight you wheresoever you find them, and expel them from
the place they had turned you out from. Oppression is worse
than killing. Do not fight them by the Holy Mosque unless
they fight you there. If they do, then slay then: such is the
requital for unbelievers,”
What Does the Koran
Teach about Jihad?
• When we think of Jihad, we often think of the
terrorists that flew the airplanes into the WTC.
– When, in fact, the average Muslim follows jihad in the
sense of a personal struggle.
– The radical extremists believe that those who refuse to
engage in Jihad are cowardly and without genuine fidelity
to Islam.
• Consider these passages in the Koran:
– Surah 2:190-191
– Surah 2:193-194
Surah 2:193-194
“Fight them till sedation comes to end, and the law of God
(prevails). If they desist, then cease to be hostile, except
against those who oppress […] So if you are oppressed,
oppress those who oppress you to the same degree, and fear
God, and know that God is with those who are pious and
follow the right path”
What Does the Koran
Teach about Jihad?
• When we think of Jihad, we often think of the
terrorists that flew the airplanes into the WTC.
– When, in fact, the average Muslim follows jihad in the
sense of a personal struggle.
– The radical extremists believe that those who refuse to
engage in Jihad are cowardly and without genuine fidelity
to Islam.
• Consider these passages in the Koran:
– Surah 2:190-191
– Surah 2:193-194
– Surah 2:216
Surah 2:216
“Enjoined on you is fighting, and this you abhor. You may
dislike a thing yet it may be good for you; or a thing may haply
please you but may be bad for you. Only God has knowledge
and you do not know”
What Does the Koran
Teach about Jihad?
• When we think of Jihad, we often think of the
terrorists that flew the airplanes into the WTC.
– When, in fact, the average Muslim follows jihad in the
sense of a personal struggle.
– The radical extremists believe that those who refuse to
engage in Jihad are cowardly and without genuine fidelity
to Islam.
• Consider these passages in the Koran:
–
–
–
–
Surah 2:190-191
Surah 2:193-194
Surah 2:216
Surah 8:65
Surah 8:65
“O Prophet, urge the faithful to fight. If there are twenty
among you with determination they will vanquish two
hundred; and if there are a hundred then they will vanquish a
thousand unbelievers, for they are people devoid of
understanding”
What Do Muslim Leaders
Say About Violence?
“Those who know nothing about Islam pretend that Islam
counsels against war. Those people 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 infidel? Islam says: 'Kill them, put them to
the sword and scatter them.' Islam says: 'Whatever good
there is exists thanks to the sword.' The sword is the key to
Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors!
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
What Do Muslim Leaders
Say About Violence?
“In the Muslim community, the holy war is a religious duty,
because of the universalism of the Muslim mission and the
obligation to convert everybody to Islam either by persuasion
or force. The other religious groups (Christianity and Judaism)
did not have a universal mission, and the holy war was not a
religious duty to them, save only for purposes of defense.”
Ibn Khaldun, The Muqadimmah: Ail Introduction to History,
Islamic historian, 1377 AD
What Do Muslim Leaders
Say About Violence?
“Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males to prepare
themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of
Islam is obeyed in every country in the world.”
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranian Shiite mullah
Who Are the Enemies?
• Personal Enemies – The Koran encourages Muslims
to seek personal retaliation and vengeance for
wrong doings:
– Surah 22:39-40
• “Permission is granted those (to take up arms) who fight because
they were oppressed. God is certainly able to give help to those
who were driven away from their homes for no other reason
than they said: ‘Our Lord is God.’ […] God will surely help those
who help Him, - Verily God is all powerful and all mighty.”
– Christians are to love their enemies (Luke 6:27-28) and
vengeance is the Lord’s (Rom. 12:19-21).
Who Are the Enemies?
• Spiritual Enemies – The Koran encourages Muslims
to destroy any people who actively oppose their
faith.
– Surah 8:38-39
• “You tell the unbelievers in case they desist whatever has
happened will be forgiven them. If they persist, they should
remember the fate of those who have gone before them. So,
fight them till all opposition ends, and obedience is wholly God’s.
If they desist then verily God sees all they do”
– Surah 47:4
• “So when you clash with the unbelievers, smite their necks until
you overpower them, then hold them in bondage”
Who Are the Enemies?
• National Enemies – The Koran and Shariah law
provides authority for waging warfare against the
enemies of an Islamic Republic.
– Surah 9:29
• “Fight those people of the book who do not believe in God and
the Last Day who do not prohibit what God and His Apostle have
forbidden, nor accept divine law, until all of them pay protective
tax in submission”
The Scriptures Discourage Violence
• The Key Difference:
– The Koran encourages a violent death in this life for all
who reject the word of submission.
– The inspired Scriptures warns of the second death and
the judgment of Hell is awaiting those who reject the
gospel of Jesus.
• Rev. 20:6, 14; 21:8
The Scriptures Discourage Violence
• Did Jesus encourage violence?
– Matt. 26:51-52
• People overlook the fact that Jesus performs a miracle, but even
more important, is that Jesus does not tolerate any armed
resistance on His behalf.
• Unlike Islam, in Christ’s kingdom, evil is not overcome through
weapons of this world, but through weapons of love (Matt. 5:44;
Rom. 12:17).
– Matt. 10:34
• This verse is often abused. The sword is “The Truth” that holds
the power to divide, even families (see v. 35). The parallel
passage, Luke 12:51, uses “division” instead of “sword.”
The Scriptures Discourage Violence
• Having stated the evidence, I am thankful that most
Muslims are not the radical Jihadists that we hear
about on television.
– Don Richardson catalogued 109 verses that deal with war
in his extensive study of the Koran that are left
unchallenged or unanswered.
– Whether or not Muslims choose to engage in acts of
violence; our study confirms that the Koran encourages
violence and retaliation.
CONCLUSION
• Reminder:
– Respect their culture and expound on our common
beliefs
– As Americans, we need to understand that any attempt
to turn a Muslim away from Islam is considered
aggression against them.
– Do not convince yourself that Islam is a harmless religion,
but rather it contradicts the Scriptures (Eph. 5:11).
– Like Christians, they are in it to win! However, nowhere
in the Scriptures does it condone or encourage violence.
CONCLUSION
• What saith the Scriptures concerning Salvation?
– Islam teaches that in order to be saved; “Believe in God
and in his Apostle Muhammad, and do what God
requires, and if God so wills he will accept you." (Miller,
page 81).
– The Scriptures teach simple steps to enter Heaven:
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HEAR – Rom. 10:17
BELIEVE – Jn 8:24
REPENT – Lk. 13:3
CONFESS – Mt. 10:32
BE BAPTIZED – Mk. 16:16 ….be added to the church that Jesus
built (Mt. 16:18)
• BE FAITHFUL – Rev. 2:10
THE RELIGION OF ISLAM
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
NEXT IN THE SERIES:
The Spread of Islam
The Afterlife
The Koran (Encourager of Peace or Violence?)
Koran vs. the Bible (Various Discrepancies)
Jesus Christ and Islam