(based on ":Islam Menace" paper by Daniel Schmeling and "Islam" by Gerald Geiger)
I. The Foundations and Spreading of Islam
A. Islam
Islam is a monotheistic religion believing in one god-Allah. Its followers are known as Muslims. Although its origins are in Arabia, the greatest number of Muslims are now found in non-Arab countries. There are over 720 million Muslims scattered throughout the world.
The teachings of Islam were proclaimed by Muhammad, an illiterate Arabian trader, who supposedly received a series of visions from Allah through the angel Gabriel from about 610 to 630 A. D. The message contained in these visions was committed to memory and later recorded in the Quran (Koran). Although Muslims hold Muhammad in the highest esteem, it is offensive to Muslims to refer to them as Muhammedans.
There is a tradition that Muhammad predicted that his religion would be divided into seventy sects and only one of these would represent the true Islam. Today, the total number of divisions in Islam has gone far beyond seventy-eight, but each sect claims that it is the only true Islam.
The largest division is between the Sunni and Shiah sects of Islam. The Sunni sect is orthodox Islam and is strong in Arabia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean lands. The Shiah sect has the majority in Iran and Iraq, and several million in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Shiahs are the ones who broke away from the original group and are the Protestants of Islam. They do not accept the first three caliphs as true leaders with the sanction of Muhammad. They believe, rather, that the true line continues through Ali, the fourth caliph, who was the son-in-law of Muhammad. Both Sunni and Shiah base their faith on the Quran, but have entirely different books of tradition.
Since its inception in the seventh century, Islam has spread throughout the world. It is not only a religion, but a political and social system as well. With all of its many divisions and sects, and all the races and languages represented, it is difficult to obtain a single view of Islam. The view of Islam presented herein is a classical picture of orthodox Islam.
B. Muhammed
Muhammad was born in Mecca about 570 A.D., into the prominent Quraysh tribe. Mecca was an important trade center. It was the transfer point on the prosperous trade route between India and Syria. Mecca was also important as a religious center. At Mohamed's birth the city of Mecca supposedly was the home of 360 idols, one for each day of the lunar year. Pagan Arab tribes made annual pilgrimages to Mecca which had been the center of pagan worship for hundreds of years. The main point of interest was KAABA, a temple. The story goes that when Adam and Eve fell from Paradise, Adam landed on a mountain in Ceylon and Eve fell at Judah, on the western coast of Arabia. After 100 years of wandering they met near Mecca and here Allah constructed for them a tabernacle on the site of the present Kaaba. In this temple was the famous black stone, once whiter than snow but since turned black by kisses of pilgrims.
Muhammad was orphaned at six. His grandfather, formerly the custodian of the Kaaba and one-time head, of the Meccan commonwealth, took charge of his upbringing. When the grandfather died, his uncle was entrusted with Muhammad's care. In his youth he worked as a shepherd and later rode with the camel caravans that carried frankincense and silk through Mecca to Syria. These travels undoubtedly brought Muhammad into contact with the Jewish and Christian beliefs of the tribes with whom he traded. Although uneducated, he gained respect as a businessman. At the age of 25, he married Khadija, a wealthy widow fifteen years older than he. This marriage gave him prestige and respect in Mecca, provided opportunities for participation in the civil councils, and leisure for contemplation. He frequently climbed to a small cave among the rocks of Mount Hira, just north of Mecca, to spend days in fasting and meditation.
In 610, at the age of forty Muhammad received the first of many visions on Mount Hara.
After the vision, Mohammed went home and doubted what he had seen. His wife went to her cousin, Waraka and he said it was of God. This impressed Mohammed greatly. That night, after another vision, he went to Waraka also and he added: "I swear by him whose hands, Waraka's life is, God has chosen thee to be the Prophet of his people. The great Nomos, the confidant of Allah, has come to thee. They will call thee liar, they will persecute thee, they will banish thee, they will fight against thee. Oh, that I could live to those days, I would fight for thee. Mohammed still doubted and thought it just a dream.
So he went to Mt. Hira again and climbed to the top. Being convinced that he had made a fool of himself, he then saw Gabriel who said: "I am Gabriel and thou art Mohammed, the Messenger of Allah." Then Mohammed was in a trance. He could not move and he perhaps would have died, had not his wife sent a man to look for him. So Khadija had saved Islam.
Muhammad's preaching began to undermine Mecca's position as the center for an annual pilgrimage held in conjunction with a profitable trade fair. By condemning their deities, he offended not only the consciences of the Meccan leaders, but also their pocketbooks. The movement he was leading aroused strong persecution; His former friends made fun of him. The merchants heckled him and threatened his life because of the denunciation of the idols that attracted pilgrim trade. Others opposed him simply because he was not of the wealthy class. Yyet, Muhammad persistently challenged the moral and social values governing Mecca under the powerful leadership of the Qurayshite oligarchy.
In the year 622, Muhammad and a trusted group of followers slipped away from Mecca and fled to the city of Medina - 220 miles to the north. This flight, or Hegira, marks the year one of the Muslim era. Muslim years are counted A.H., or After the Hegira. At Medina, as his movement grew rapidly, he became not only the spiritual leader, but also a legislator and a military leader. The city had been torn by strife with two Arab and three Jewish tribes. The Jews had been waiting for the Messiah. When one of the prophets heard Mohammed speak, he was convinced that he was the prophet of whom the Jews had spoken. So they joined themselves to him, convinced that this man could put an end to their century long dissensions. This of course gave Mohammed a solid footing and a place to live. Had Medina not decided to adopt Islam and accept the holy outcasts from Mecca, the religion of Mohammed might have died in its cradle. As has been aptly said: "The flight to Medina changed not only the scene but the actor and the drama. Mohammed to this point was a religious leader who preached the unity of Allah and warned of the Day of Judgment. But now in Medina he became a legislator and a military leader." It was at Medina that Muhammad was able to establish basic Islamic religious practice, such as gathering at the mosque on Fridays, and daily prayers. Almstaking for the poor also became established at this time.
He continued to have a deep resentment toward the people of Mecca and used his position of power in Medina to get revenge. There was a lack of water and so it was decided to raid the caravans from Mecca. This produced the armed conflict known as the Battle of Badr. Though greatly outnumbered, 1000 to 300, the followers of Mohammed won and acquired much rich booty. Mohammed looked on it as a miracle. He filled his fighters with a zeal and determination to win, assuring them that if they were killed in battle, they would enter paradise and so in effect would lose nothing. If they remained alive they would get earthly treasures. Finally in 630, Muhammad led a force of 10,000 in taking control of Mecca. Once in Mecca, Muhammad destroyed the idols of the Kaaba, and pagan shrine of the Arabs. He retained the Black Stone as the most sacred relic of Islam and established the renewed Kaaba as the center of Islamic worship. With the destruction of the idols Muhammad destroyed the symbol of wealth and power of pagan Arabia. He established Islam as the sole religion of Mecca and himself as its only prophet. By the following year, 631, Islam had spread throughout Arabia and Muhammad was its undisputed leader. Mohammed's intention no doubt was that Jews and Christians would accept his new religion. Their failure to do this and the battles that resulted changed his attitude. He became hostile toward Jews and Christians and spent his remaining years bringing them under his control. Many times Mohammed came close to losing his life and his army was almost wiped out but in the end Mohammed was always victorious. As a result of the fighting the followers of Mohammed became united and when Mohammed became sick and died in 632. By the time of his death, Muhammad had seen the proclamation of his message spread from his immediate family through all the Arabian peninsula. Pagan idols had been destroyed and replaced with a belief in a single God. A land that had been torn by intertribal warfare was united by ties that made every Arab a brother in submission to the one God and His prophet Muhammad. Muhammad has rightly been judged the most influential Arab, and second to Jesus Christ as the most influential person in the history of the world.
After his death the ball kept rolling. By 636, Damascus and the Byzantine empire was defeated so that all of Syria and Palestine with the exception of Caesarea and Jerusalem were in Moslem hands. In 637, Jerusalem was also conquered. In 639 Egypt was conquered and this opened the way for conquest of all northern Africa. In 641, Babylon surrendered and by 644, most of the Persian Empire was under Islam control. Thus within 10 years after Mohammed's death, the empire had extended from the borders of India to Northern Africa and within a century included more territory than the Roman Empire at the zenith of its power. From Arabia there were simultaneous thrusts against Persia on the east and Syria on the West. In each direction the vigorous Moslem armies met foes who were all but exhausted from their struggle with each other since the Byzantine and Persian empires had long been in conflict.
Those who were subjected were given the privilege of keeping their old religion if they would pay certain taxes, were disarmed and deprived of certain civil liberties and privileges enjoyed by those who accepted Islam; others imposed other regulations-forced them to wear yellow sashes or other distinguishing marks; they were not allowed to ride horses or white asses; they could not enter certain areas or use public baths frequented by Moslems and often suffered economic prejudice. Any comments on this history at this point? Are there any predictions in the Bible of Muhammed's coming? A or D: Islam spread faster and more widespread than Christianity did during the time of the Apostles. Do any of you know what stopped the spread of Islam into all of Europe?
In the conquered lands, Islam had come to dominate the culture of all the peoples except for a few tribes by the year 1000. It also set a pattern in almost every sphere of life. From 1280 to 1480, it extended into Central Asia, Afghanistan and further parts of India. It spread across to the great populations on the islands of the East Indies. In 1453, Constantinople fell to the Turks and this checked the advance of Islam. Since 1400 Islam has spread throughout most of Africa. In recent times the spread of the faith has not been so strongly carried on through missionary methods, but the Islamic religion and culture have been imposed upon such great masses of mankind and over so wide a portion of the globe that the natural increase of population adds millions each year to the followers of Islam.
What would Islam feel is their greatest threat?
How does their approach to conversion differ from Christianity?
C. The Quran
At the core of Islam lies the Quran, considered to be the Word of God. To a religion that has no ecclesiastical organization, mystical ritual, or body of saints to aid the troubled soul, the Quran becomes the source of inspiration and refuge for the Muslim. The Quran is the Muslim's main reference not only for spiritual matters but also for the daily requirements of life.
The term "Quran" in a literal sense means "recitation," or "readings." Each chapter of the Quran is termed "surah" (literally, series). The sanctity of the Quran lies in the Muslim's belief that the text is the official word of God and of Muhammad as the appointed mouthpiece of God. Muhammad is alleged to have received the surahs from the archangel Gabriel over a span two decades.
The arrangement of the surahs does not follow a historical pattern. In fact, it does not seem to follow any consistent chronological or topical pattern. The surahs of the Quran are arranged according to length in descending order: The longest comes first and the shortest last, with the exception of the "Fatihah" (the opener) which is placed at the very beginning of the Quran. Surahs vary in length from 287 verses to 3. The longest surahs, which come first, relate to a period of Muhammad's role as head of the community in Medina. The shorter ones containing mostly his doctrinal teachings, came during his prophethood in Mecca; yet in the order followed by the Quran, they are found mostly in the later part.
A Jew or Christian familiar with the contents of the Bible would be struck by the Quran's dependence on it. With the exception of a few narratives purely Arabian in origin, all Quranic stories have their Biblical parallel. The many discrepancies between the Biblical and Quranic accounts indicate that Muhammad was less concerned with the details of the event and more concerned with the moral underlying them. He cited such narratives not to preserve them in the Quran for their own sake, but rather to support a point he wished to emphasize. Who else has done this in time? Matthew 4:6 "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:" ?He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
The inexact manner in which the Biblical events and personalities survive in the Quran suggests that Muhammad received his knowledge of these Biblical accounts either from uninformed sources or from informants whose views of their religion did not agree with the orthodox version of it. The motive, nevertheless, clearly shows through his narration of these accounts: to illustrate the main theme of God's great design for man, namely to reward the righteous and punish the wicked.
The main purpose of the Quran is two-fold: A call to belief in the one God, the supreme giver of all moral law and ethical guidance; and the establishment of the practical guides and laws necessary for organizing the believers into a coherent community that would assure the triumph of the religious force that called it into being. This dual aim falls into a sequential order: the pre-Hegira period, which was devoted to the task of making converts; and the post-Hegira dedicated to organizing the community of believers.
How does this match up to the main purpose of the Bible?
John 20:31 These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
The one hundred fourteen surahs of the Quran were revealed over a period of twenty years. Many of the revelations were committed to memory immediately. Numerous others were recorded on various bits of parchment, palm leaves, smooth stones, and similar objects. Since Muhammad was illiterate, he entrusted the recording of the revelations to his aide, Zayd ibn-Thabit. When Muhammad died there existed no singular copy of the sacred text. Although many followers had memorized portions of the revelation, no one knew the complete message. In 657, twenty-five years after Muhammad's death, his former aide, Zayd, completed the official codification of the Quran.
It is possible that Zayd did not have access to all the previous versions of the revelation. There is also the possibility of simple inadvertent clerical errors in the process of recording. Since no devout Muslim would willfully attempt to tamper with the word of God, we must assume that the official Quran is an essentially faithful reproduction of the original message delivered by Muhammad.
The Muslim's extensive dependence on the Quran makes it the principal recourse both in the performance of religious duties and in the acquisition of basic knowledge. To the Muslim, the Quran has profound historical and literary meaning besides serving as his manual of prayer, code of religious and ethical well-being, his guide to social behavior and daily living, and a collection of useful definitions and maxims of practical value. It is a source of historical knowledge as unfolded by God and revealed to the believers. It is indeed, the single most important influence upon the Muslim world.
What kind of a picture do you get from the history of Islam so far?
Any surprises or new things that struck you about the Quran?
Read 1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 Timothy 6:3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing.
Matthew 28:20 Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. How should we approach the teachings of the Quran and every teaching?
2 John 2:9 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. 11 Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.
Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
Titus 1:9 He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
Acts 17:11 The Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
How should we respond to it?
Any questions?