Islam: It's History, Beliefs, And Errors.

 

 

Today I'm going to give you a teaser chapter from my book Study On Cults And False Religions. This is a sample chapter where we give the history, beliefs, and critical errors. The entire book will come out in August but until then, here is one of the chapters.

The History:

Islam is the second largest and fastest growing religion in the world boasting over two billion followers. This religion has truly swept over the earth and all over America.

As we decipher the Islamic history, we focus our lens on a man by the name of Mohammed. Mohammed was born in A.D. 570 in an Arabian town known as Mecca. The Arabian culture worshipped 360 gods. However, there was a supreme god named Allah. Allah is Arabic for God. Mecca was the center of worship to these false gods. Mohammed had a tough early life as both of his parents died when he was only six. Eventually he wound up at his uncle’s Abu Talib who lived in Mecca. At age 25, Mohammed was proposed marriage by a wealthy 40-year-old woman named Khadijah. Over his lifetime he would have twelve wives along with two concubines. One of them being an 8-year-old Egyptian girl.

In 610 A.D. Mohammed claimed to have seen angelic beings try to tear his body out in search of something. His foster mother thought he was demon possessed. However, it was his wife that told him that he was being chosen as a special prophet by Allah. So Mohammed continued interacting with these demonic spirits. From them, Mohammed claimed to have received the revelation of the Quran.

So Mohammed began telling others about his special revelation from Allah and the Quran. In 620 A.D. his wife died and soon some angry leaders of the Meccan tribes were planning to assassinate him for his religion. The leaders of Mecca did not like his teachings and wanted to kill him.

Fearing these Meccan leaders, Mohammed escaped to Medina. His escape is known as the Hijra and marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Medina was a city without a stable government and consisted of feuding Arabs. So in 627 A.D. Mohammed established him and his religion as the authority. He soon held control of Medina. Mohammed’s religion Islam spread all over Medina like wildfire. It quickly gained many followers from the surrounding cities.

 In 630 A.D. Mohammed and his followers battled and conquered Mecca. Mohammed and his small army of Muslims slaughtered the city, raping and killing the civilians. On June 8th, 632 A.D., Mohammed died. His Muslim followers continued the Islamic religion. Islam grew in followers as time went on. It mainly spread among the Arabic countries. Muslims in this time were known to be radical and attack other cities. Islam has displayed a gruesome history of murder and terrorism to others. We can even take a look at the past two hundred years alone.

• 50,000 Greeks in 1822

• 10,000 Nestorians in 1850

• 11,000 Syrians in 1860

• 15,000 Bulgarians in 1876

• 325,000 Armenians 1895–1908

• 1.5 mil. Armenians 1915–1918

• Severe persecution against Christians 1990s.

• Nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11.

• Over 1,500 Israelis on October 7^th,2023.

What They Believe:

“So, the complete meaning of “Islam” is attaining a state of peace by submitting oneself to the Will of Almighty God (Allah or The One)”-Taken from the Muslim Unity Center

 

The word Islam means submission. And submission might very well be the key word in understanding Islamic theology. But to whom do the Muslims submit? They submit to Allah, which means God in Arabic. Allah is the one true God according to the Quran. Their god, Allah, could be described as wrathful and tyrannical. He has no compassion upon people, but rather demands their submission to Him.

 

A Muslim would tell you that there is no Trinity. They believe Allah is one being. We have now set the stage for the holy book of Islam. It is the book that supposedly contains Allah’s eternal and perfect word. This book has all of the Islamic doctrine. It was given to Mohammed in his series of revelations. This book is the Quran. This is the Muslim’s most perfect word of Allah.

 

Now you must understand that Muslims believe that Allah has inspired four books:

Law of Moses

Psalms of David

The Gospels

The Quran

Now a Christian might think that Muslims accept the Bible as truth. But mistakenly, they believe the Bible has since been changed and corrupted by Christians and Jews. So now the Bible is no longer trustworthy in the eyes of the Muslim. To the Muslim, the Bible is just a wise book and not inspired by Allah.

 

The Quran, however, has been faithfully preserved by Allah and contains everything needed to follow Him. Anytime the Quran and the Bible contradict, it is obvious to trust the perfectly preserved Quran and not the distorted Bible. They think this even though all variations of the Quran were destroyed by Caliph Uthman in the 650s AD. Every Muslim today holds Caliph Uthman’s version of the Quran.

 

And lastly, the evidence clearly shows that the Bible has not been distorted or corrupted. We know this because we can go back to the original copies of the Bible that are in Greek and Hebrew and compare. You can’t do this with the Quran.

Our next bit of Islamic theology you should understand is their belief in six great prophets that were used by Allah to proclaim His word. Below are the 6:

Adam

Noah

Moses

Abraham

Jesus

Mohammed

“To Muslims, Muhammad is the best of examples for all people.” -Taken from Muslim Unity Center

The important thing to understand about these six is that one is supreme. The greatest among the six prophets is Mohammed. Muslims believe that Mohammed is the chief prophet of Allah. Jesus, to the Muslim, is just another one of Allah’s prophets that lived a sinless life and performed many miracles. They reject His deity completely. They also don’t believe Christ died on the cross. Most Muslims believe that Jesus Christ was taken into heaven without having died. However, Surah 19:33 says Jesus died and would be resurrected.

Surah 19:33 from the Qur'an says (speaking about Jesus Christ):

“Peace be upon me the day I was born, the day I die, and the day I am raised alive.”

 

 

Our next bit of theology is understanding the Muslim view of eternity. A Muslim believes he will either go to hell or paradise. Paradise is believed by Muslims to be a place of food, wine, and sexual pleasure. Hell is a place of everlasting torment!

 

So for the Muslim, you’re next wondering how one goes to this place called paradise. A Muslim can go to paradise if one obeys the pillars of faith. The pillars of faith are from Allah and given as a requirement to go into paradise and not hell. Here are the pillars of faith a Muslim must follow to get paradise.

 

 

1. Recitation of the Shahada

"There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah."

The quotation above is the Shahada. The Shahada must be memorized and said publicly.

2. Salat (Prayers)

These prayers are to be performed five times a day. During prayer, Muslims must face toward Mecca. In every mosque, there is a notch in the wall. This notch indicates the direction of Mecca so Muslims know where to face when they pray.

3. Almsgiving (Zakat)

This pillar of faith requires giving 1/40 of your income to the poor.

4. Fasting during Ramadan

During the entire month of Ramadan, a Muslim is supposed to fast from sunrise to sunset. This is done to gain atonement for sins.

5. The Pilgrimage (Hajj)

Once in their lifetime, a Muslim is commanded to visit Mecca.

6. Holy War (Jihad)

Every Muslim must be willing to fight and even die in defense and propagation of the faith. This has been used many times in history as we have seen earlier. Muslims follow this principle because of Sura 9:5 and Sura 5:33.

 

 

 

 

Critical Failures:

Our last section is talking about the most critical errors of the Islamic religion. We have now understood their history and beliefs so this last section will be applying their errors, your Christian faith, and a touch of logic. These three arguments are the biggest claims they have against Christianity. When talking with a Muslim, these three accusations against Christianity will probably come up.

1. The Christian’s Bible Is Corrupt

“The previous revelations of God, such as the Bible, contained contradictions due to human interference.” — Rashad Khalifa, a 20th‑century Muslim

Muslims will often claim that the gospels, psalms of David, and the law of Moses, are inspired by God. But they have since been changed and corrupted by Christians and Jews.

In response, ask the Muslim when it was corrupted? Was it before the birth of the prophet of Mohammed or after?

If they say the first answer:

It was corrupted before Mohammeds birth.

If they say this, then why does the Quran acknowledge the Bible, calls it good, and even tell Muslims to resort to it?

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:136

“Say ye: We believe in Allah, and that which is revealed unto us, and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the prophets received from their Lord; we make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we submit.”

So from this verse, we can clearly see that the Quaran holds the Bible on the same level as the Quran even saying there is no distinction.

If they say the second answer:

The Bible was corrupted after the birth of Mohammed.

This claim too has a weak basis that consists of conjecture.

If a Muslim says this, ask them where the authentic Bible is. How does one judge that the Bible is corrupt if cannot produce the true Bible? If the Bible is corrupt, then one must judge it in light of the true book. Since no Muslim has ever produced any true Bible other than the Bible we have today, the argument waters down to petty conjecture.

The final nail in the coffin to their claim is be found in the Quran.

Surah Yunus 10:64

“No change can there be in the words of God.”

If the Bible has been corrupted, then Allah must be a liar because he said  in the Quran that there cannot be change in God’s word.

 

 

2. Christians Worship 3 Gods. They Must Be Infidels.

“The Trinity is a false notion which contradicts reason as well as revelation. The Christian creed of the Trinity was invented by idolatrous councils after the time of Jesus.”-Islamweb.net

Before I continue, I wanted to give you a great resource for defending Christianity against Muslims. The book, titled Islam Made Easy, was authored by Edgar Feghaly. He was born in Lebanon and witnessed Muslims first hand. He is currently a missionary to the Middle East. His book is written in a way that allows you to understand Islamic theology from the viewpoint of a Muslim. I would highly recommend this book if your are looking deeper into the Islamic religion.

Below is from his book Islam Made Easy, regarding a conversation he had with a Muslim.

 The difference between the Christian and Moslem religion is Allah (God).” I asked him, “What do you mean?” He said, “Moslems believe in one God, while Christians believe in three gods!”

I answered, “that is not true. Christians believe in one God. We believe that God revealed Himself throughout history in three eternal personalities and each personality has to do with man’s redemption. God the Father is righteous and just. God Son is love and mercy. God the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of who guides us to the truth, convicts man of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8). He enlightens our to know the truth.”

He answered, “No, you believe in three gods.”

I responded that the New Testament revealed more information about God and that the Christian knows more about the person of God than the Jew and the Moslem!

He insisted that God cannot be three but one. At that point I looked at him and asked him, “Do you believe in spirits? Do you believe that man has a spirit? Do you have a spirit?” He answered, “Yes I do!”

 

“Do you have a soul?” I asked. He said, “Yes.”

I said, “So you, Muhammad, have a body, a spirit, and a soul. Which one of you is Muhammad?” Surprised by my question to him, he said, “The three are Muhammad!”

The three parts (spirit, soul, body) that make up a human being do not duplicate one another. Each plays a complementary part to connect the human being to God, to self, and to man’s material surroundings.

Then I concluded, “If man is three in one, and the Bible (even the Qu-an) says that man was created in the image of God, then why can’t you believe that God is three in one, or One God who revealed Himself to man in three eternal persons.

 

Believing in the trinity is not illogical but is consistent with principles found in the Bible.

 

3.  Christians Say That God Has A Son.

“The essence of Jesus’ message was that only God deserves to be worshipped and that the worship of anyone else alongside God is false.”-Institute For Islam

Muslims say that Christ cannot be the Son of God because God has no son.

A core belief of their faith is that Jesus was only a prophet and not the Son of God. They reject Jesus’s deity.

However their belief would make Jesus a liar because of what he said in the gospels.

John 10:30 “I and my Father are one.

John 8:58 “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

This is a foolish notion if one believes in the Bible. Not only did he say he was God but also consider the fact that he let his disciples worship him as God and call him Lord.

 

Also consider what everyone accused him of. Blasphemy.

Rejecting the deity of Christ and saying that Jesus was never the son of God is illogical when considering Scripture.

Jesus is the Son of God, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died on the cross and rose again 3 days later.

 

So in my conclusion of Islam, we have seen its dark history, examined their beliefs, and exposed their critical errors. Let’s move on to the next chapter.