Lesson 5: The Islamic Influence on the World and Our Response
(based largely on Pastor Daniel Schmeling’s paper: The Islam Menace)
1. The Islamic Way of Life
DOCTRINE determines PRACTICE in religion. Islam tries to practice Shari ah, that is, what they consider to be the “right path” leading to God. It includes legal and moral principles, in addition to the Muslims’ creed. The Shari ah consists of four “roots”: the Quran; the Hadith, a collection of the sunnas (traditions) of Muhammad; the Ijtihad, logical reasoning on the basis of the Quran and the Sunnah; and the Ijma, consensus of opinion among the leaders.
The Shari ah, when applied to the social, economic, and political realms, affects every aspect of the Muslim’s life. It determines the conditions and rituals for marriage, provisions for divorce, guidelines for rearing children, the content of the children’s education, and most other aspects of family life. It provides for the collection and distribution of the zakah in order that the poor and needy are cared for. It binds the legal system to a code of laws based upon Islamic traditions and Quranic edicts. This concept of Islamic brotherhood is supported by quotations of Muhammad and passages from the Quran.
“Whoever relieves a. human being from a grief of this world, God will relieve him from a grief on the Day of Judgment.”
“None of you is a true believer in Islam until and unless he loves for his fellow man what loves for his own self.”
And that there may be among you a people who invite to the Good, and enjoin the Just, and forbid the Wrong. These are they with whom it shall be well. (Quran 3:97-100)
In view of this, why would Islam stand opposed to communism?
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Why would it also stand opposed to the western world?
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What kind of problems have Islam caused for world leaders in recent times?
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The process of establishing legal, socio-economic, and political institutions leads to the formation of a community bound by tradition. It also has led to the development of a closely knit Islamic community. For inherent in the Shari ah is the concept of a community of the faithful. Since a faithful Muslim will submit to the will of God, he will expend his efforts on behalf of the welfare of others.
The drive for pan-Islamic unity began in 1945 with the formation of the Arab League. The league has been active in social, economic and educational fields and has been a leader in working for greater Islamic unity and cooperation in a wide range of issues. Other activities such as the International Islamic Economic Conference and the World Muslim Conference which have met annually since 1949, the Islamic Congress which was organized in 1953, and the Muslim World League founded in 1961 have worked to unite Muslims from all over the world to cooperate in the spread of Islam.
2. The Jihad
What is a “jihad”?
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Islamic political power has been centered in the formation of Muslim nations, such as Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Iran, which attempt to use the Quran and Shari ah as their national constitution. With their emergence, Muslim nationalism has become the dominant political force in modern Islam. This movement has placed Muslim in charge of their lives and futures, and has reinvigorated their self-respect. This renewed self-confidence has provided new life to the modern concept of Jihad. The doctrine of jihad developed as a corollary to the mission of the community. The purpose of jihad was not only to gain converts to Islam but also to gain control over the political and economic affairs of societies in order to run them in accordance with the principles of Islam. Individual conversions frequently occurred, however, as the inhabitants of conquered regions found adherence to Islam to be most expedient. The use of military, political, and economic power to spread Islam thus became an integral part of the Shari ah. Although Islam claims to be the religion of peace and brotherhood, its Quran and history attest to its willingness to military, political, and economic power to spread its influence.
Fighting is prescribed for you, and you dislike it. But it is possible that you dislike a thing which is good for you, and that you love a thing which is bad for you. God knows and you know not. (Quran 2:216)
Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, and do not transgress limits: For God loves not transgressors. And slay them wherever you catch them and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith. But if they cease, God is Forgiving, Most Merciful. And fight them on until there is no more persecution or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in God; but if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression. (Quran 2:190-193)
Muhammad used jihad to recapture Mecca and bring the various non-Muslim tribes under control in Arabia. The history of Islam during the centuries following the death of Muhammad reveals the use of jihad in spreading Islam throughout northern Africa, southern Europe, and Asia Minor. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Western colonialism put Islam and jihad into decline. In the post-World War II era, jihad has arisen in a new context as an important tool in the renaissance of Islam.
Where have recent “jihads” taken place?
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How might this Islamic way of life effect us in America in the future?
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3.The Growth of Islam
Schmeling: Since its beginning, Islam has been a challenge to Christianity. In earlier centuries, Islam was spread largely through the use of its military sword. During the past three decades, the “Sword of Islam” has taken a more political and economic appearance. A brief statistical review will illustrate the extent to which the Sword of Islam has been effective in the western world.
1981 Factoids:
Western Europe: 24 million Muslims
South America: 1.5 million Muslims
Canada: 300k Muslims
United States: 2 million Muslims (in 1970 Geiger said there were 100,000)
There were 4 million Muslims in 1995 with 1/3 being African American.
This is minuscule when compared with the 70 million Muslims in Bangladesh, 74 million in India, 76 million in Pakistan, and 124 million in Indonesia. It does, however, illustrate how effectively the Sword of Islam has carved its way into these nominally Christian areas. The revival of Islamic political and economic power has given birth to the “Renaissance of the Muslim Spirit” and, hence, the spread of Islam.
Muslims use a variety of ways to spread their religion, mosques, mosque bookstores, the internet, and private shops sell and give away vast quantities of literature. They also use TV and radio programs.
Geiger states: There are other groups which are often associated with Islam in the United States such as the Black Muslims, Black Nationalists and Blood Brothers. They are not a part of Islam because they have no compulsion of religion, no supremacy of race or color, no prophet after Mohammed and recognition of human dignity. They have an appeal especially to the Negro population.
What do you think funds the spread of Islam?
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Have you seen any signs of Islam locally?
4.The Isolation of Islam
What makes Islam really stand out from others?
Over 20 years ago Schmeling wrote: The Quran and the traditions of the Shari ah have long separated Muslims from the modernizations experienced in the West. In so doing, it also shielded them from efforts of Christian missionaries. While the social, political, and economic Nahda (renaissance) has brought many and rapid changes to Muslims, the religious fervor is equally as strong in clinging to the ways of the past. Social reformers have directed their attention to community problems of every kind and political reformers have worked for pan-Islamic unity or Muslim nationalism. As frequently happens, however, these changes have produced a severe reaction in Islam. The backlash has swept across the Muslim world in the past five years. The call is ringing out to return to the old verities, and to strictly apply the literal interpretation of the Quran and Shari ah to the affairs of society. As noted previously, the fall of Shah of Iran was, at least in part, a result of this movement.
Fazlur Rahman, a Muslim scholar, has observed:
The movement inspired by the initial modernist impulse split into two developments moving in two directions, one in the direction of almost pure Westernism and the other gravitating towards fundamentalism.
The fundamentalist wave is moving strongly in reaction to all that has happened in the last three decades. More and more Muslims today are saying “it is time now to conserve the faith of Islam.”
How did this come to fruition in recent years?
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Is this good or bad for Christian mission work to Islam countries?
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The “law of apostasy” has also contributed to the difficulty of gaining converts to Christianity. It is based on a passage from the Quran which was originally applied to pagan Arabs who became Muslim and then reverted back to paganism. Eventually, it was applied to any Muslim who became any kind of non-Muslim, including converts to Christ. If the death-sentence was not carried out physically, it almost always was socially and culturally. The former Muslim was expelled and shielded from any influence which he might have upon the people of his own culture.
Additional evidence of the growing effectiveness of Islam’s shield was the report from the 1978 North American Conference on Muslim Evangelization that “heads of 37 Muslim countries recently resolved to expel Christian missionaries from their lands.” The resistance of the Indonesian government to the efforts of WELS to gain entrance for Pastor Robert Sawall is a close encounter of this kind. Surely the “Shield of Islam” has been an active deterrent to the Christianization of the Muslim world. “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14)
5.Our Response to Islam
Matthew 28:20 Teach. . . them to obey everything I have commanded you.
What did Jesus command us to teach?
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Acts 20:20,27: You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. 27 For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
Colossians 2:1-3; 4:12 I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
Ephesians 3:19; 4:15 . . . that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
What was Paul’s mission to the Colossians and Ephesians?
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How would we apply this to our approach to how we reach out to Muslims?
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In commenting on Matthew 28, R. C. H. Lenski said:
“The idea that all we really need in order to be Christians is to embrace one or two central features of the Gospel is here shown to be highly dangerous. Jesus binds us to all that He has bidden us and not merely to one or two features.”
A or D: Our mission work to Muslims is no different than our mission work to any unbeliever.
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A. Declare All the Counsel of God
Read John 9. What problem did the man have? How did Jesus solve his problem? Did the man come to faith immediately? What was the purpose of the miracle then?
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Peter spoke to the Jews of their history and the manner in which Jesus had fulfilled the Messianic prophecies. Paul preached to the Athenians about their unknown god. In these and other ways, the Gospel was brought to people where they were.
The apostle Paul spoke of his ministry in these terms in the first epistle to the Corinthians:
Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. (I Corinthians 9:19-23)
How might we use this same approach in the way we deal with Muslims?
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In developing strategies to effectively carry the Gospel to the Muslim world we will want to answer questions such as the following: How can we capitalize on Islam’s concept of God and its high regard for Jesus?
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How can we use the similarities between Muslim ideals and Christian ideals to call the Muslim to faith in Jesus Christ?
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What is the essence of the Gospel and how can it best be communicated in the cultural contexts of the Muslim world?
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How can we overcome the cultural and language barriers inherent in a proper understanding of concepts such as the Triune God and justification by faith?
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How much of his culture can a Muslim retain and say with integrity, “Jesus is my Savior?” Are there customs that are relatively neutral-practices that are not necessarily relevant to religious issues? How can we strengthen the Christian convert from Islam while he continues to live in the Muslim world? How can we minister to the Muslim living in non-Muslim cultures-especially the United States? How can we better prepare seminarians and prospective missionaries to effectively work within the Muslim world? How can, we make better use of mass media-i.e. radio-to bring the Gospel to the Muslim world?
The foregoing list of questions is far from complete nor would the answers to questions permit one to devise a complete strategy for evangelizing the Muslim world. The questions, however, are intended to illustrate some of the concerns which we must have if we are to be “all things to all men…for the gospel sake.”
Jesus once said, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” How is this especially true when you look at Islam today?
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How could this spreading of Islam be a tremendous opportunity?
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Schmeling said: Islam is a world in transition. The 720 million Muslims are scattered throughout the world. Muslims are not one people and Islam is not one religion. The rapid political, social, and economic changes are bringing reevaluations of Islam and its application to the lives of Muslim laity. More and more Muslims are traveling to the West and losing the support of their Muslim societies.
Muslim businessmen and students are increasingly eager to understand the philosophies of the Western world with which they are coming in contact. Enthusiastic response is being shown to courses in the Bible and Christianity. Such courses can provide the means through which Christians can sow the seed of God’s Word.
Western Christians are increasingly brought into contact with Muslims through the petro-chemical industries. Christian businessmen, engineers, construction workers, and oil-field men are transferred to jobs in the newly developing fields in the Middle East. These contacts are opening doors to Christian witnessing which are formally closed to Christian missionaries.
How many of you know any Muslims? Would you try and talk to one about religion? Why or why not?
Schmeling: The Lord has prepared the fields of the Muslim world for the sowing of the Gospel. It is now for us to respond to His call for workers in His field. The Muslim world needs Christian disciples with a love for Christ and for His people. Let us “lift up (our) eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”