'If thou wert in doubt as to what We have revealed unto thee, then ask those who have been
reading the Book from before thee....' (Surah,
10, Yunus, verse 94)
A Christian Response to Muslim
Beliefs
Rev. Andrew Abraham
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1. INTRODUCTION
2. CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO BASIC BELIEFS OF ISLAM
A. BELIEF IN ALLAH
B. BELIEF IN ANGELS OF ALLAH
C. BELIEF IN BOOKS OF ALLAH
D. BELIEF IN PROPHETS OF ALLAH
E. BELIEF IN THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
F. BELIEF IN SUPREMACY OF DIVINE WILL
G. BELIEF IN LIFE AFTER DEATH
H. BELIEF IN WAR
I. BELIEF IN JESUS
3. CONCLUSION
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1. INTRODUCTION
Some people think that Christianity
and Islam have so much in common that it does not really matter which of the
two religions one adheres to. The purpose of these pages is to compare the
fundamental beliefs of both to establish whether this view is true or not.
2. A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
TO BASIC BELIEFS OF ISLAM
A. Belief in Allah
'Say: He is Allah. the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like
unto Him.' (Surah 112, Al-Ikhlas,
verses 1-4, please note that different Quran translations may have different
verse numbering systems. Therefore, it may be necessary to look up the
surrounding verses.)
Most important to Muslims
is the belief that Allah is One, Almighty, All-powerful, beyond comparison. The
Bible too confirms that truth (Deut. 6:4). However, the concept of the name
'Allah' in Christianity is different from that of Islam in two areas:
i) The origin and meaning of the word
While Arab Christians view
the name 'Allah' as a common name for the divine (i.e. 'God' in English, 'Theos' in Greek, 'Eloah' in
Hebrew and 'Alaha' in Aramaic), Arab and Orthodox
Muslims consider it as the very personal name of God allegedly revealed to
Muhammad in the Quran. This view contradicts the
Bible. According to Exodus 3:15, the eternal (personal) name of God is
'Yahweh'. It is never translated as 'Allah' in any Arabic Bible. The personal
name of God is either kept as 'Yahweh' or translated into to 'Rrab' ('Adonai' in Hebrew, 'Kyrios' in Greek and 'LORD' in English). 'Yahweh' is never mentioned
in the Quran nor does it appear in the Hadith. Therefore, Christians and Jews refused to accept
him as a prophet based on Deuteronomy 18:20, where 'Yahweh' said, '...a prophet
who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.' 'Allah' is not
known as a common or personal name for the divine in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek,
the languages the Bible was first revealed in. Linguists and experts in Semitic
languages are not sure if 'Allah' is a contraction of 'al-ilah'
(the-god), a transliteration of 'alaha' (the-god) in Syriac or a derivation from the Babylonian 'Enlil'. There are about twenty different views as to the
derivation of the name 'Allah.' The most probable is that the root is 'ilah', the past participle form, on the measure fi'al, from the verb 'ilaho' (to
worship), to which this article was prefixed to indicate the supreme object of
worship.' (Muheet-el.Muheet, dictionary) According to
the opinion of some Muslim theologians it is infidelity (kufr)
to hold that the word has any derivation whatever! But history establishes
beyond the shadow of a doubt that even the pagan Arabs, before Muhammad's time,
knew their chief god by the name of 'Allah' and in a sense, proclaimed his
unity. (Ibn Hisham,
earliest biographer of Muhammad, Sirat, Part II., p.
27) Centuries before Muhammad the Arabian Kaaba,
or temple at
ii) Allah and Yahweh God
have different attributes
The description of Allah in
the Quran is deistic. He is completely separate from
his creation. The central Christian teaching of God's entrance into the world
or of any sort of human fellowship with him is totally absent in Islam.
'The thunder hymneth His praise and (so do) the angels for awe of Him.
He launcheth the thunderbolts and smiteth
with them whom He will while they dispute concerning Allah, and He is mighty in
wrath' (Surah 13, Al-Rad,
verse 13)
This verse is a good
introduction to the study of Allah's attributes; it expresses the effect
Allah's attributes are intended to have and do have on His worshippers. Through
fear of death and terror of Allah's mighty power the pious Muslim is all his
life subject to bondage. In contrast Biblical Christianity teaches to respect
God, to be in awe of him and to obey him joyfully out of thankfulness for what
he has done in Jesus. The most common division of Allah's attributes are: Isam-ul-Jalaliyah and Isma-ul-Jemaliyah,
terrible attributes and glorious attributes. The former are more numerous and
more emphasised than the latter, not only in the Quran
but in tradition and in daily life. The net total of the moral attributes
is only found in two verses, which mention that Allah is Holy and Truthful in
the Muslim sense of those words. God is only called once 'the Holy' in the Quran (Surah 59). Unlike in
the Bible the term does not signify moral purity or perfection, 'just the
complete absence of anything that would make him less than he is.' (Beidhawi) The Arabic word 'tahir'
is only used in the Quran to define outward purity of
the body. The Biblical idea of moral purity and utter separation from sin as a
prerequisite to approaching God is unknown to the vocabulary in the Quran. Both concepts are of doubtful significance in
Muslim theology while they are found throughout the Bible. What a contrast
is found in it where God himself is at least 29 times described as holy.
(Lev.11:44,45, 19:2, 21:8, Joshua 24:19, etc.) At
least 8 times God is mentioned as being the truth. (Genesis
24:27, Exodus 34:6, etc.) While the God of the Bible is called 'just'
at least 5 times (Deut. 32:4, Job
The Quran
gives the reader in a measure a correct picture of God's power as displayed in
nature but it has to say very little about his justice and holiness. Consequently
the Islamic picture of the nature, origin, consequences and remedy of sin is
almost non-existent. Sin, according to the Quran, (Surahs
Muhammed-al-Burkawi
says: '...if all the infidels became believers and all the wicked pious he
would gain nothing. And if all believers became infidels it would not cause
Allah loss.' It is therefore no wonder that the Quran has no word for
'conscience'. The
lack of all distinction between the ceremonial and moral law comes out most of
all in the traditional sayings of the prophet. These sayings, we must remember,
have nearly equal authority with the Quran itself.
Take two examples:
'Allah's Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) said, 'A dirham which a man knowingly
receives in usury is more serious than thirty-six acts of fornication.' Ibn Abbas's version adds that he
said, 'Hell is more fitting for him whose flesh is nourished by what is
unlawful.' (Ahmad and Daraqutni transmitted it. Bayhaqi transmitted in Shu'ab al-Iman on the authority of Ibn Abbas.)
'Allah's Messenger (peace_be_upon_him) said, 'Usury has seventy parts, the
least important being that a man should marry his mother.' (Abdullah ibn Hanzalah; Abdullah ibn Abbas narrated it in Mishkat al-Masabih, Hadith number 2825)
Sin, according to Islam,
is after all a matter of minor importance. It is the repetition of the creed
that counts, and not the reformation of character. The repetition of the 'Kalima'
makes one a true believer, so much so that if one says it accidentally or by
compulsion, it would make them a Muslim. It seems that Allah does not appear
bound by any standard of justice.
Allah is also described as
'El Awwal', the first, 'El-Akhir',
the last, 'El-Dhabir', the substance and 'El-Batin', the essence. These four titles are known as the
mother of the attributes, being regarded as fundamental and all-comprehensive.
All four occur together in Surah 57:3 which makes it a great favourite among the Sufis, the mystics of
Islam. With it they justify their pantheistic thoughts that God is the
inside and the outside of everything. He is the phenomena (Dhahir) and the power behind the phenomena (Batin). In that the Sufis agree completely with the Hindu
followers of the Vedanta school. There is only one verse, Surah 24:35, in which
Allah is described as seemingly dependent on or indebted to something outside
of himself. It speaks of Allah being the light of the world. Commentators
differ in explaining the mystical teaching of the parable in which the verse is
found.
In the Quran (Surah 112:4)
and in the Bible we are asked to look at God's Oneness in terms of uniqueness
rather then simply as a numerical unity. The Biblical understanding of God's
Oneness can also be defined as Multiplicity within Unity, (Isaiah 46:16, 1
Timothy
As Christians grew in
numbers the need for protection against false teachings arose. Therefore, Tertullian, a leader of the early church, summarised
the biblical teaching on the nature of God by introducing the word 'Trinity' at
the end of the 2nd century after the birth of Christ (AD). It is derived from
the Latin 'trinitas,' being a combination of the
words 'tri' for 'three' and 'unitas' for 'unity.' The
Church adopted the doctrine of the Trinity at the council of Nizea in 325 and in its final form at the council of
The main stream of
Christianity throughout the world believes in one God, the Holy Trinity.
It is indeed a mystery, as God Himself is. Many attributes of Him are accepted,
yet are simply not fully comprehensible to the human mind. We all accept that
God has no beginning, yet do we understand this? 'Impossible!' the sceptic
cries out, yet true. Then why should it be such a problem if there is some
aspect of God's essential nature (his Trinitarian existence) which is difficult
for us to grasp? C.S. Lewis, professor of Medieval and Renaissance literature
at
The Trinity alone answers
difficult questions about the nature of God:
B.
Belief in Angels of Allah
Muslims believe in angels
as messengers and servants of Allah. In that respect the Islamic concept
differs little from the Christian one. However, in Islam angels act also as
mediators for the transcendent God. Allah is not omnipresent, rather He dwells
locally. Islam had to express the divine immanence in some other way. In the
Islamic system, angels fulfil this function. Thus, many of the actions that
Christian associate with Christ or the Holy Spirit are performed by angels
– e.g. scriptural inspiration – the Holy Spirit in Islam is
Gabriel.
C. Belief in Books of
Allah
Muslims and Christians
believe that God revealed His will to mankind by sending prophets and
messengers with revelations. Muslims believe that they are found in the Tawrat (Torah) of Moses, the Zabur
(Psalms) of David, the Injil (Gospel) of Jesus and
the Quran of Muhammad. The understanding of
revelation is, however, fundamentally different. Unlike Christians, most
Muslims make a distinction between the following three progressively inferior
kinds of revelation:
1) The Word of
God (passages where he speaks directly as found in the Quran).
2) The words of a Prophet of God (e.g. passages where Muhammad
speaks. They are found in the traditions of Islam, known as Hadith).
3) The words of a historian (passages where things are said about the
prophet by others as found in books like the Tasfir
and the Tahriq). This view is inconsistent also with
Muslim sources. Here are only a few examples: In Surah
3, Al Imaran, verse 40, the prophet Zakariya questions how he can have a son. In Surah 19, Maryam, verse 64 an
angel speaks to Muhammad about Allah. In Surah 19, Maryam, verses 22-23 we find a historical narrative
identical in form to that in the Bible (Mark 11:13). In the Hadith
Qudsi, the divine sayings, Sahih
Muslim, vol.4, Allah speaks directly.
Muslims hold that the Quran is Allah's ultimate revelation to mankind because it
came down directly (nazil), word for word, to
Muhammad via the angel Iibril. In contrast Christians
believe that God inspired prophets to reveal information about Himself. In 2 Timothy 3:16, we read that all Scripture is
inspired. The Greek word for 'inspiration' is theopneustos,
which means 'God-breathed'; indicating that what was written had its origin in
God Himself. In 2 Peter
The proof for the authority
of God's revelation which the Bible emphatically demands are completely absent
in the Quran. Its prophet did not speak in the Name
of God, Yahweh (Exodus 3:1-6,13-15; Psalms 72:17-19; and Revelation
1:8,17); Its message does not conform to revelation which has gone before
(Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Isaiah 8:20; Matthew 5:17-18; 24:35; and Revelation
22:18-20) Muhammad did not make predictions which are verifiable (Deuteronomy
18:21-22; Isaiah 43:9; and John 13:18-21). Signs and wonders did not accompany
his revelation in order to give him authority as having come from God.
Consequently, Muslims believe that all books, except the Quran,
have been corrupted and changed wherever they disagree with it. Christians
believe that there are some major problems with this Islamic view:
i) The Quran
was written about 600 years after the Gospels. Why should we believe a
witness that is so far away from when the actual events happened?
ii) According to many
commentators the Quran denies the historical fact
of Jesus' death and resurrection and numerous other things that had been
foretold in the Old Testament (Torah, Psalms). Did God contradict Himself
and history in what is alleged to be His last revelation, the Quran?
iii) The Quran states that the death of Jesus on the cross was only
'made to appear to them'. (Surah 4, Al Nisa, 157-159) Such a view would turn the Holy and Righteous
God into the greatest deceiver of all! From a Christian point of view it is
totally unacceptable to think that He would be responsible for misleading 1.3
billion people who call themselves Christians today! Is a God who allegedly
deceives his people worthy to be worshipped?
iv) Today's translations of the Jewish
Scriptures, known as the Old Testament, are based on the Masoretic
text the standard edition of the Hebrew Old Testament. It was prepared by
Jewish scholars, called Masoretes, mainly from 500 to
the 950 AD (See, 'The World Book Encyclopaedia', Volume 2, 1982, USA, page
222b) Furthermore the translators compared it with a number of other sources
still in existence today. The most important of which is the
v) Muslim belief is that the
Bible, accepted as being God's word, is not reliable any more. The Quran contradicts this when it says in Surah 10, Yunus, verses 64-65:
'Those who believe and
(constantly) guard against evil; -- For them are Glad Tidings, in the life of
the Present and in the Hereafter: No change can there be in the Words of
Allah. This is indeed the supreme Felicity.' (also
Surah 2, Al-Baqarah, verse
85; 7, Al Araf, verses 159; 10,16).
Muslims are commanded in
the Quran to believe in the books of the Jews and the
Christians, the Torah and the Injeel (Surah 4, Al Nisa, verse 136). But
are they not changed or in part forgotten?
If that was the case when should it have happened, how and by whom?
What excactly has been distorted and why? Muslims
best look up their Quran to
find out what it says about such serious charges.
'And if thou wert in doubt as to what We have revealed unto thee,
then ask those who have been reading the book from before thee..' (Surah 10, Yunus, verse 94)
‘Those who have been reading ‘the book
from before thee' are Jews and Christians! It would make no sense for Allah to
command doubters to ask people for guidance whose
Scriptures had been corrupted! Several verses in the Quran
bear witness to the truth that the Torah was unchanged at the time of Jesus.
In Surah 19, Maryam,
verse 12, Yahya, who lived at the time of Jesus was told 'to take hold of the Book, (the Torah).'
Surah 3, Ali'Imran, verse
48 tells us that Jesus was also taught in the Torah.
Numerous verses attest to
the truth that the Torah was uncorrupted in the time of Muhammad, the sixth
century AD (Surah 34,
'…Say, 'Bring ye the Law and
study it, if ye be men of truth.' (Surah 3, Ali 'Imran, verse 93)
In this specific incident the
Jews are asked to bring their own Law, the Torah. They are commanded by God to
study it in order to find the right answer to a particular question.
'But why do they come to
thee for decision, when they have (their own) Law before them? -Therein is
the (plain) command of Allah;..(Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 43)
Maududi comments on this verse:
'...sometimes, when their own law did not suit them, they would take their
cases to the Holy Prophet in the hope that they might obtain a more favourable
decree from him than they could from their own law.' ('The meaning of the Quran', 12th Edt. 1992, S.A. Maududi, Isl.
‘Let the People of the Gospel
judge by what Allah hath revealed therein. If any do fail to
judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better
than) those who rebel.' (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 47)
This command is given to
Muhammad's contemporaries, it is written in the 'present' tense which in the
Arabic language can also refers to the future! If the Gospel (Injil) was corrupted at that time then surely Allah would
never have asked the people of the Gospel, the Christians, to believe in
it!
'If only they had
stood fast by
the Law, the Gospel, and all the revelation that was sent to them from
their Lord, they would have enjoyed happiness from every side. There is from
among them a party on the right course...' (Surah
5, Al Ma'idah, verse 69)
The fact that there were Jews and Christians
'on the right course' in Muhammad's time confirms the Torah and the Gospel to
be unchanged in the 6th century AD! Certainly, they could never have been
described in such an honourable way if they had 'stood fast' by corrupted Holy
Books!
'Say: O People of the Book! Ye have
no ground to stand upon unless ye stand fast by the Law, the Gospel and
all the revelation that has come to you from your Lord....' (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 68)
WHAT ABOUT
‘TAHRIF’?
The Arabic word used by
Muslim scholars to describe the supposed corruption of the sacred Scriptures is
‘Tahrif’. A distinction is made by them
between a corruption of meaning or of words. All the most celebrated among the
earliest commentators on the Quran speak only about
the first corruption of meaning. (e.g. Imam Muhammad Ishmail al-Bukhari. He formed his
opinion on the authority of Ibn Abbas.
Ibn Mazar and Ibn Abi Hatim
mentioned only the first type of corruption on the authority of Ibn Muniyah in the ‘Tafsir Durr-i-Mansur’. The
same opinion is also held by Shah Waliyu ‘Ilah in ‘Fauzu l Kabir’ and by Imam Fakhru ‘d-din. ‘Dictionary of
Islam’, T.P. Hughes,
DOES QURAN SAY THE BIBLE
HAS CHANGED?
The Quran
nowhere explicitly states the Injeel (Gospel) was
changed! But what about the Torah? History shows that
whenever God revealed Himself, most of His people fell into disobedience after
a period of time. So it was with the Jews. In spite of this sad fact Surah 7, Al A'raf, verse 159
states there were always good Jews who remain true to the book God
gave them:
'Of the people of Moses
there is a section who guide and do justice in the
light of truth.'
God's word is truth and
good Jews surely would never have changed the meaning or even the words of
their Holy Book!
'There is among them a section who distort the Book with their
tongues: (as they read) you would think it is a part of the Book, but it is
no part of the Book; and they say, 'That is from Allah,' but it is not from
Allah: It is they who tell a lie against Allah...' (Surah
3, Ali 'Imran, verse 78)
In the verse quoted above
the Jews are reading parts of their Book wrongly while the written words
remain unchanged.
'But because of their
breach of their Covenant, We cursed them, and made their hearts grow hard: They
change the words from their (right) places and forget a good part of the
Message that was sent... (Surah 5, Al Ma'idah, verse 13)
The phrase 'They change the words from their
(right) places' could mean that they tampered with the text of the Book. However,
the second possibility, that the true meaning was distorted, not the text
itself, will have to be given preference in the light of the wider context
mentioned above:
-The unchanged Torah was
with the Jews of Muhammad's time.
-It was referred to by
the Prophet in matters of dispute.
-The unchanged Torah was
with the Jews of Muhammad's time.
-It was referred to by
the Prophet in matters of dispute.
In Surah
2, Al Baqarah, verses 75-79 (in verse 75 Jews are
listening to the Quran being recited); Surah 4, Al Nisa, verse 46;, the
Jews are accused of changing, writing down wrongly, what Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) said. After checking all these references it
becomes clear that the Torah remained unchanged!
The Quran
makes it clear that it has not been changed before the time of Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) Otherwise God would have demanded to believe in
and follow Scriptures that were already corrupted. If we assume that changes
were made while or after the prophet's time, we can simply compare a twenty
first century copy with one that was written before the sixth century. The
result will be that all the teaching remained the same! Muslims who say that
the Bible is corrupted contradict their own book. Therefore, follow the Prophet
of Islam’s advice when he said, ‘seek knowledge from the cradle to
the grave’, by learning what the Torah and the Injeel
says.
D. Belief in Prophets of
Allah
Islam and Christianity
agree that God sent prophets to reveal his will since human beings are sinful
and need His guidance. In distinction to Christians, Muslims are told that
these prophets did not commit any (big) sins. However, even the Quran says that, Adam disobeyed God knowingly (Surah 20:119), Moses killed an Egyptian (Surah 28:16), Muhammad, Noah and Jonah asked for
forgiveness of their sins (Surah 47:19, 48:1-2,
11:47, 21:87, 71:29) Contrary to them Jesus is called sinless, even in the Quran (19:19)! Since no ordinary human being is without
sin Jesus must be God in the flesh.
E. Belief in the Day of
Judgment
Christianity and Islam
alike teach that there will be a day of judgment. Muslims believe that most of
them and all of the non-Muslims will be sent to Hell (Surahs
i) The creed ('I bear witness that
there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah') ii) Prayer
(Five set times a day in Arabic) iii) Almsgiving (1/40 of income) iv) Ramadan
(Fasting for 30 days from sunrise to sunset) v) Pilgrimage to Mekka (once in a lifetime if one can afford it)
It is remarkable that
nearly all the references to hell and punishment are in the Medinah
Surahs, and therefore belong to the latter period of
the prophet's life. The allusions to hell in
The Bible does not teach
salvation by works but by grace through faith:
'For by grace you have
been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of
God-- not the
result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our
way of life.' (Titus 3:5)
In opposite to Islam
where sin is regarded only as a mistake, a moral weakness, the Bible teaches
that sin is rebellion against the perfect God. It can not be paid for with good
deeds. Complete perfection is an absolute requirement to spend eternity with a
completely perfect God. Because of our sinfulness only God himself can satisfy
the demands of His absolute justice and holiness. These attributes of His
character ask for the punishment of sin. On the other hand, God's love demands
forgiveness for the sinner. That is why Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the punishment for
our sins on our behalf. God does not cast away all those who believe in Jesus
in this way by looking at them as being hidden in Christ whose sacrifice he has
accepted.
Salvation by faith in
Jesus is believing with the intellect
that the Bible is right about our sinful condition, about who Jesus is and
about what he did on the cross for us. Passages that speak about judgement according
to works have to be read in the light of what true faith means. This is
confirmed when their immediate context is considered. (e.g.
Joh 5:28-29, compare with verses 23-24, Mat
1.
Out of thankfulness followers of Jesus do what
he tells them: To love God and man. This is the essence and test of true
obedience. They desire to follow the moral law set out in the Old Testament
and summarized in what is known as ‘the 10 commandments.’ (Exo 20:1-17)
2.
Genuine faith in Jesus produces a desire to
become more like him, to do what is right and just.
3.
Saving faith creates the awareness that
this new obedience can only come through faith in Christ. It does not
come from focusing on the law, the desperate attempt to meet its demands.
Instead it comes from continually fixing one’s eyes on Jesus and his
work, by remaining connected to him through being in his presence with
one’s thoughts.
4. Lastly, Biblical faith generates a constant abiding in and reliance on
Jesus by faith. In this way only the Holy Spirit of God supplies the
power for a changed life and lasting fruit. (Rom
The driving motivation in
Islam is the fear of Allah's judgement and subsequently the obedience of his
countless laws. Driving motivation in Christianity is the love of God and
subsequently the keeping of the two greatest commandments, 'To love God and to
love others.' Islam (lit. 'submission, obedience') is
a complete way of life. So is Christianity, provided it is being practised!
F. Belief in Supremacy
of Divine will
This very important belief
speaks about the absolute decree of good and evil. Orthodox Muslims believe
that whatever has, or shall come to pass in this world, proceeds entirely from
the Divine Will, and has been irrevocably fixed and recorded on a preserved
tablet by the pen of fate. (Surah 54:49, 3:139, 87:2,
8:17, 9:51, 13:30)
'This is an admonition:
Whosoever will, let him take a (straight) Path to his Lord. But ye will not, except as Allah
wills; for Allah is full of Knowledge and Wisdom. He will admit to His
Mercy whom He will; but the wrong-doers, --for them has He prepared a grievous
Penalty.' (Surah 76, Al- Dahr,
verses 30-32)
Christians believe that
all this is total determinism. Man is judged and condemned for what he cannot
help doing. This is total injustice! By forgiving whom He wants God would
contradict his attribute of justice at the cost of mercy. Moderate Muslims
would, in contradiction of all the above verses, go along with the Christian
view of predestination. There it is not something arbitrarily decreed or
pre-ordered, but resulting from God's foreknowledge. (Romans 8:29)
G. Belief in Life after
Death
Muslims and Christians believe in eternal
heaven and hell. However, contrary to the Bible the Quran
only reveals Allah's will and very little about his character. He is absent
from all but the seventh of the Islamic heavens according to traditions of
the prophet of Islam’s journey from Makkah to
The
people said, “O Allah’s Messenger (peace be
upon him)! Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?” The Prophet
(peace be upon him) said, “Do you have any difficulty in seeing the full
moon on a clear night?” They said, “No, O Allah’s
Messenger.” He said, “Do you have any difficulty in seeing the sun
when there are no clouds?” They said, “No, O Allah’s
Messenger (peace be upon him).” He said,
“So you will see Him, like that.” (Abu Hurayrah Sahih al- Bukhari)
In contrast the Biblical view of heaven not only promises the believers
that they will see God but more so that He will have a personal, ongoing
relationship with them:
‘I
heard a loud voice shout from the throne: God's home is now with his people. He
will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home
among his people. He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no
more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone
forever.’ (Revelation 21:3-4)
The meaning of life in
Islam is to obey God (Surah 51:56). In Christianity
it is to know Him. (John 17:3) Such a purpose of life is much more
appealing, especially in the light of the supreme importance of relationships.
H. BELIEF IN WAR
Generally speaking, Islam differentiates
between three kinds of war, called ‘jihad’ (lit.
struggle) in Arabic. War against the temptations raging
within one’s soul, defensive and offensive jihad. It is the duty
of every Muslims to engage in the first two types. Defensive war becomes
necessary when Muslims are treated unjustly. Innocent civilians are not to be
targeted. However, Al Qaida maintains that people are
not innocent if they pay taxes to an oppressive government and vote for it
during elections. Offensive war can only be called for by a caliph, the
legitimate leader of a Muslim country. (Fiqh: 3988 Al-Hedaya Vol. II, chap 1
Hanafi manual)
The Christian approach to
war and peace is found in the character of God. The Bible describes Him as the 'God of peace' (Heb
Teaching of the Torah (Old Testament)
God is passionately opposed against all forms of injustice, wrongdoing
and sin. He is
deeply immersed in battle against these forces of evil which hold captive the
people He created. In the Old Testament we read the story of how He selected
the Jewish people to set them free from the evil one and his influence.
Ultimately this blessing was to come to the whole world (Gen 12:3) through the
Jewish ‘Messiah’ translated as ‘Christ’ in
English. God re-conquered the
The battles the Israelites
fought in the Old Testament were therefore the Lord's holy war, undertaken at a particular time in
history. God gave His people under Joshua no commission or licence to conquer the world with the sword but only a
unique, limited mission. The conquered land itself would not become
Teaching of the Injil (New Testament)
War is a terrible curse that the human race brings on itself as it seeks
to possess the earth by its own unrighteous ways. But it
pales before the curse that awaits all those who do not believe in God and His
word. The meaning of the Hebrew name ‘Joshua’ is ‘God
saves.’ The English version of that name is ‘Jesus’. For a
time He now reaches out to the whole world by calling everyone to believe that
He died for their sins at the cross. Those who trust in Him by doing what He
says are guaranteed eternal life in heaven (1Joh 5:13) Soon, however, Jesus
himself, the second Joshua, will wield the sword of His judgement at His second
coming upon those who do not believe in Him (Rev 19:11-16).
Since we still live in the
time of God’s undeserved favour where His Good News is preached let us
examine the ministry of Jesus to see what kind of warfare He modelled for His
followers. In His works He was in conflict with the various disorders which
imprison people; in His words He battled
with sin, especially the hypocrisy
and practical godlessness of religious people. The final showdown came in
His death when He met the full fury of evil and ‘made peace through the blood of His cross'.
His first words to His disciples after his resurrection were ‘Peace be
with you’, signalling that His victory had brought harmony and
reconciliation between God and those who accepted it. Jesus’ followers
too are involved in God's present kind of war. They need to be very disciplined like soldiers (1 Tim
Jesus answered, "My kingdom is
not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be
fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my
kingdom is not from here." (John 18:36, Luke
When it comes to
maintaining law and order in this world, force may be used as a last resource
by the governing authorities:
Let every person be subject to the
governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those
authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists
authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur
judgement. For rulers
are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no
fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval;
for
it is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be
afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of
God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:1-4)
This passage does not
contradict earlier ones which forbid revenge and ask to overcome evil with good
(12:14.21). Those verses are directed to private, individual Christians.
However, at the same time they can also be state officials. In the latter role,
followers of Christ who work as police or prison officers, as judges or
soldiers become God’s agents in the punishment of evil doers. One way in
which He executes His judgement on them is through the state. In some emergency
situations, when no policeman is present, it may be right for a Christian to
intervene in a fight, protect an innocent person against assault or arrest a
burglar. Then he would become temporarily an arm of the law. Members of the
ruling authorities who became followers of God were not encouraged to leave
their positions (Luk
Violence will always be the last resort. When evil comes in its starkest forms which
will not listen to the voice of reason, which refuse to negotiate, and which
trample down the innocent and defenceless, then there may be cause for self
defence. This view known as the 'Just War' argument is held by a majority of
Christians today. It asserts that war is
only ever justified when four conditions are met. The cause must be just; war
must be absolutely the last resort, when all other avenues to avoid conflict
have failed; conflict must not involve non-combatants (Prov
But the Christian's primary
commitment is, of course, to peace, and it should be their earnest desire to
play a full part in God's battle against the visible and invisible forces which
tear this planet apart. Christians are called to be the light of the world (Mat
Questions regarding the Quranic view of holy
war
1. The Quran seems to contain numerous verses that promote
violence, such as: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day,
nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by God and His Apostle, nor
acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the
Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission,
and feel themselves subdued." (Surah 9:29, transl. Yusuf Ali) Why do moderate Muslims say these are not
to be taken also as physical fighting in the light of Islamic history?
Reliable, early Muslim sources state that the prophet of Islam commanded his
followers to kill Ka’b ibn
Ashraf and Abu Rafi with
pretence and deceit because they did not accept his claim to be a prophet. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Vol.4, p. 168,
Vol.5, pp 253-254) He also attacked his opponent in the battle of Badr and the settlement of Ta’if
which had rejected his message too.
2. Some Muslims say that
the Quran only allows for a defensive war. According to the above examples is it
correct to say that those who verbally disagree with Islam already provide a
reason to be fought against physically? This view seems to be confirmed by
the fact that Islam’s initial fight for
3. The ‘Dictionary
of Islam’ states that those unwilling to pay ‘Jizya’,
a poll tax imposed on citizens who refuse to become Muslims in a conquered nation, are killed. (T.P. Hughes, 1988, "Jihad",
see also Surah 9:29 quoted above) Does that not contradict the Quranic verse, ‘Let there be no compulsion in
religion...’(Surah
2:256) or has that passage been replaced by later commands from Allah?
I. BELIEF IN JESUS
The
Injeel, (New Testament) which according to it’s own statements and that of the Quran is ‘a guidance for all people’ (Mat
28:18-20, Surah, 3:4), gives a detailed account of
who Jesus is. One description of him (Heb 1-2) consists of several quotations
from the Torah (Old Testament) and the Zabur
(Psalms). All three of God’s revelations agree on his nature and work described
below:
Jesus, the Word of God
To
people from the middle east into which the Holy Bible
was revealed, a name stood for the full character of a person in all he was and
did. The Greek name
‘Jesus’ is a derivation of the Hebrew ‘Jeshua’.
It means ‘God saves!’
‘She
will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he
will save his people from their sins.’ (Matt
Like
the Quran, the Bible calls him also an apostle and a
prophet (Heb 3:1, Mat 11:7-9,
Messiah
The
Quran too calls Jesus ‘al Masih’,
‘the Messiah’ (Surah
Son of God
Christians
do not believe that Jesus is the son of God in a physical sense. God forbid
that he should take a wife! That would be blasphemy. However, they do believe
that Jesus is the Son of God in a figurative sense. Arabs, for example, are
commonly known as ‘sons of the desert.’ They know the desert in and
out; they are one with it, that is why they are called
in such a figurative way. The Arabic word ‘ibn’
is sometimes used in a figurative sense (Surah 2:177)
as opposed to ‘walad’ which is always
used in a physical way. The latter word is used when a protest is brought about
'Allah having taken unto himself a son' (Surah
2:116). It shows clearly that the Islamic denial is directed only against a
physical, not a figurative sonship of Jesus. Let us
now investigate the true Christian doctrine in more detail:
1.
Jesus is called the Son of God because He is one with Him in essence. Jesus
calls himself ‘Son of God’ (Luk 22:70) because
he knows Him in a profound way. Jesus is the Eternal Word who has always been One with God. (Joh 1:1-18; Phil
2:5-11) Just as a person is forever one with his words, so God and Jesus Christ
are eternally One. (Joh
14:8-10)
2.
Jesus is called the Son of God because He is like God. Jesus has God's holy and
sinless character and his mighty attributes. The Quran
calls Jesus ‘a holy son.’ (
3.
Jesus is called the Son of God because He came from God. (Isa
7:14; Luk 1:34,35)
Similarly, the Quran teaches that Jesus came directly
from God, that He was born of a virgin, that He had no
earthly father. (
'For
God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes
in him shall not perish but have eternal life.' (Joh
3:16)
The
Greek word for ‘one and only son’, ‘mono-genes’, means
literally, ‘one in kind, unique’ and has sometimes been incorrectly
translated into English as ‘only begotten’. This rendering is wrong
because ‘mono-genes’ is also used in Hebrews 11:17 to describe
Isaac as Abraham's ‘one and only son’, namely the one who was
promised by God to Abraham and his wife Sarah. (Gen 15) Since Ishmael too was
Abraham's son, but through his servant Hagar (Gen 16), the term ‘one and
only’ distinguishes Isaac as being unique in his kind but not as the only
begotten. Furthermore, the Hebrew word used to describe Isaac in the Old Testament
story as ‘only son’ in Genesis 22:2 is completely different from
the word ‘begotten’ used, for example, in Psalm 2:7:
I
will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, ‘You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.’
‘In
the ancient Near East the relationship between a great king and one of his
subject kings, who ruled by his authority and owed him allegiance, was
expressed....also by ‘father’ and ‘son.’ (N.I.V. Study
Bible, Zondervan Bible Publishers, USA, 1985,
footnote) Psalm 2:7 is applied to the relationship between God and Jesus in a
filial not in a carnal sense in Acts
God
‘Indeed,
they are disbelievers who say, 'Surely, Allah is none but the Messiah, the son
of Mary,....' (Surah 5:73)
The
Quran is right to speak out against this false
teaching which Christians also condemn. The view described in that verse was
held by a heretical group called the 'Patripassionists'
during the early days of Christianity. They identified God with Jesus to the
extent that they spoke of the sufferings of the Father at the cross. Whereas
Christians say the Messiah is God they do not say that God is the Messiah. The
difference will become clear through the following illustration: It is all
right to say that all
Shias are Muslims but not all Muslims
are Shias. God and Jesus are essentially the same.
However their roles are different as expressed in the doctrine of the Trinity.
Therefore, the question raised, 'How is it possible for God to die on the cross
like Jesus did?' is answered accordingly: The essence of God resides in all
three aspects of the Trinity. When Jesus died on the cross, the essence of God
did not cease to exist or operate during the time between his death and his
resurrection. Furthermore, the spiritual nature of God is such that it does not
become less by assuming a human nature in Jesus. In their doctrine of unity,
Muslims tend to conceive of unity as a mathematical unity. According to such
thinking one orange plus one orange equals two
oranges, etc. That is the order of mathematical and material unity. However,
the order of spiritual unity is different. God's love does not become less
because it is given to people. His essence is not reduced or divided when it
abides in the Son and in the Holy Spirit along with the Father. When reading Quranic verses as quoted before, one easily gets the false
impression that a mere man has been made into God. However, the Biblical
teaching speaks about the very opposite.
The
belief that God appeared in flesh is not illogical. To prove the point let us
think about an illustration. Nobody has ever seen a square circle. Since both
belong to the same world of shapes it is logical that they are mutually
exclusive. One can only have either a circle or a square but not a combination
of both. However, it is perfectly reasonable to believe that a green circle
exists since the combination is made up of a part belonging to the world of
colours and of a part belonging to a completely different world of shapes.
Similarly God and man come from different worlds and therefore it is not
against logic to say that Jesus is both God and man. The Creator can become
part of his creation and yet still be above it since nothing is impossible to
him. Therefore, according to Philippians 2:6-8 it is true to
say that Christ was 100% God and 100% man at the same time. 'How can
this be? Is that not a contradiction?' The following illustration may help: A
lively small boy loves to wrestle with his father. It is quite a fun game. In
order not to hurt him the father deliberately does not use the 100% strength he
has as an adult. He puts himself on his son’s level by taking on the 100%
strength of a little boy his age. He chooses not to use his capacities for his
little boy’s sake. After all, he loves him and that is the only way he
can show it to him in these circumstances. Similarly God too has become a man
in Jesus because he loves us. Jesus became a man like other men and was
dependent upon the same resources as other people.
Some
may object by saying it is impossible for God to enter into humanity. But what
about the belief that God made himself known through the Quran,
his allegedly eternal, uncreated word? Or think about the Prophets of old. To
some of them God spoke directly in an audible voice. Surah
20:11-13 confirm that Moses heard God speak to him, from within the fire. This
conversation took most probably place in his own Hebrew language because God
wanted his message to be understood. Truly, nothing is impossible to the
Creator. If he has limited himself inside a voice in the past he surely can
embody a human being in order to communicate more directly and fully with his
creation. That is exactly what he has done in Jesus.
Sacrifice for sins
According
to Jesus’ own words he came to die for our sins (Mat
'There
was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give
me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. Not long
after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant
country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent
everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be
in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who
sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the
pods that the pigs were eating, but no-one gave him anything. When he came to
his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and
here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to
him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer
worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up
and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw
him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms
around him and kissed him. The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against
heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the
father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put
a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill
it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is
alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile,
the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and
dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened
calf because he has him back safe and sound.' The older brother became angry
and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he
answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never
disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could
celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your
property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 'My
son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and
is alive again; he was lost and is found.' (Luke 15:11-32)
In
this mysterious but marvellous story the father stands for God, the elder
brother for the Pharisees, the religious people in Jesus' day, and the younger
son represents obvious sinners. From a middle eastern
perspective into which it was spoken, some very strange things happened indeed.
The male head of a family would not disgrace himself by the undignified action
of running towards his rebellious son. Nor would he have disrupted his son's
words before a full display of repentance. It is unthinkable for him to command
such a luxurious outpouring of affection for a son who shamed him in full view
of the community. The father's behaviour illustrates God's amazing patience,
forgiveness and love for his ungrateful children. The robe, ring, shoes, and
fatted calf which await the son's return all highlight the extent of his
restoration. But it came at the expense of his father's honour. The shame
brought upon the family through the sinful son, was profoundly carried by his
father. Why would he do such an outrageous thing? The Torah tells an equally
intriguing story of how God created Adam and Eve and later the Israelites to be
his people. We learn how he loved them like a father loves his children. Time
and time again, however, we read with great sadness how his chosen ones break
his commandments, how they become guilty of lawlessness. Even more disturbing
is the fact that their rebellion is only a fruit of a conscious rejection of
the Almighty God. His own people spat in his face and brought shame upon him
before the very nations they were supposed to be witnessing of his honour and
glory. They were not even ashamed of themselves (Jer
3:3-5).
The
people of old did as they pleased because they had lost a sense of shame. While
their mechanical, outward ritual acts may still have been in place they were
not concerned about God's honour at all. Repentance, the turning round from
one's evil ways, was later expressed in terms of recognition of shame and
disgrace. (Jer 31:19) Likewise, our disloyalty to
God, our resistance against his work among us is known and is exceedingly
shameful. We too deserve to be punished ever so severely by having to spend
eternity in hell. Since God is pure, completely removed from all evil, man's
sin has cut off, effectively killed, the relationship between the two. The
warning given to Adam and Eve that they and their descendants would die if they
ate the forbidden fruit became a frightening reality (Gen 2:16-17, Rom 6:23).
Only
through death God's honour will be restored. Consequently God introduced an
elaborate sacrificial system to the Israelites through Moses. Shame could be
removed by getting forgiveness for sins, but only if an animal would die in
their place.
'...without
the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.' (Heb 9:22)
This
all important truth is also reflected in 'Qisas' the
Islamic law of retaliation (Surah 2:178-179). It
consists in doing to the person who has committed a crime the very same thing
they have done. The life of someone who is wilfully killed demands the
murderer's life in retaliation. However, the next of kin can accept a financial
compensation instead. According to Surah
5:45, retaliation for inflicted wounds is also necessary. A nose for a nose and so on. If a member of the body which
is to be cut off in revenge is defective, a compensation
will be accepted.
From
God's perfect perspective animal- and all other sacrifices are defective. They
can not take away sins but were only serving as a cover and a shadow of Jesus,
the Messiah, the perfect sacrifice to come (Heb 10:1-18). He took our shame
upon himself through his death on the cross. Through the crucifixion Jesus, our
perfect, sinless mediator, restored the honour of God in a most profound and
just way. (Joh 5:22-24)
According
to the Bible and the Quran (Mat 5, Surah 57:27) the followers of Jesus were asked to practice
compassion and mercy. One can only live in such a way when one has experienced
it beforehand. Mercy is defined as an undeserved favour. It is the greatest
difference between Christianity and all other religions! God offers free,
undeserved forgiveness of sin to all who believe in the work of Jesus at the
cross. To show their gratitude they are to turn around from their evil ways by
becoming compassionate and merciful too. It is one of the greatest tragedies of
all when these characteristics are not present in the lives of those who call
themselves Christians!
Questions regarding the Quranic view of Jesus
1.
Everything God does has
purpose and meaning (Surah 30:8). Christians believe
that the uniqueness of the virgin birth of Jesus points to the uniqueness of
his status. Why did God will this special birth for Jesus alone?