Teachings of World Religions pt. 2

Islam

I. Origin – approximately 610 A.D. in Arabia. Founded by Muhammed. Born in a Mecca – a leading religious and commercial city in Arabia. Major caravan trading city. Jewish and Christian merchants brought their religious teachings with them, particularly the belief in one God. Muhammed’s father died before he was born and his mother died before he turned seven. Raised by an uncle who was a caravan trader. Travelled frequently with his uncle. According to tradition, during a caravan journey to Syria, Muhammed met and had a friendly relationship with a Christian monk. As an adult, Muhammed was a successful caravan trader. He married and had six children – four daughters and two sons. Both sons died in infancy. Grieving over the death of his sons and discontented with life in Mecca, Muhammed went off to a cave by himself for a period of time to meditate and reflect on his life. He went without food and drink for a long period of time. One day Muhammed claimed to receive a revelation from God through the archangel Gabriel. This god claimed to be the god of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the other OT prophets as well as the god of Jesus, who was not the Son of God but a human prophet. This god told Muhammed that He was anointing Muhammed to be the next prophet to spread God’s message to the world – there was only one god, Allah. In fact, Muhammed would be the last prophet. The Jews and Christians had failed to carry out this mission. They had distorted his message. Muhammed would succeed where they failed. He would restore the one true faith. Muhammed went to his family and shared with them his revelation in the cave. Muhammed’s wife called an elderly cousin, a recent convert to Christianity, to listen to Muhammed to determine whether or not he was crazy. The cousin said no; Muhammed had received a true revelation from god just like Moses and Muhammed must submit to it. Muhammed went back to the cave where he received more revelations from Gabriel.

II. Sacred Writings - The Koran – Revelations of Allah given to Muhammed by Gabriel over the course of 23 years. The Koran focuses on moral guidance and is considered the sourcebook of Islamic principles and values. Muslims regard the Koran as the culmination of a series of divine messages which include the Torah of Moses (first five books of the Bible,) the Psalms of David, and the Gospel of Jesus (not the NT Gospels.) Muslims believe the Koran, the final holy scripture, was sent because all the previous holy books had been either corrupted (story of Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael, Jesus being the Son of God) or lost. Koran 3:3 - It is He (Allah) Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book (Koran), confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind. The Koran recounts stories of many of the people and events recounted in Jewish and Christian sacred books although it differs in many details. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Aaron, Moses, John the Baptist, and Jesus are mentioned in the Koran as prophets of God.

III. Deities – Allah and no other

IV. Teachings

Five Pillars of Islam: 1) Believe that there is no other god but Allah and Muhammed was his prophet. 2) Pray five times a day facing Mecca, the holiest of Islamic cities. 3) Fasting during the month of Ramadan, the month in which the first verses of the Koran were revealed to Muhammad during his fasting. The fast is meant to allow Muslims to seek nearness to God, to express their gratitude to and dependence on him, atone for their past sins, and to remind them of the needy. 4) Pay the zakat – charitable giving to the poor and needy. Zakat consists of spending 2.5% of one's wealth for the benefit of the poor or needy. 5) Hajj – a pilgrimage to Mecca. Every Muslim, male and female, are obligated to go to Mecca at least once in their lifetime if they can afford it. The main rituals of the Hajj include walking seven times around the Kaaba, touching the Black Stone (Islamic tradition holds that the Stone fell from Heaven to show Adam and Eve where to build an altar, which became the first temple on Earth. Muslims believe that the stone was originally pure and dazzling white, but has since turned black because of the sins of the people. Abraham was said to have later found the Black Stone at the original site of Adam's altar when the angel Gabriel revealed it to him. Abraham ordered his son Ishmael to build a new temple, the Kaaba, in which to embed the Stone.), traveling seven times between Mount Safa and Mount Marwah (Hagar’s search), and symbolically stoning the Devil in Mina (Temptation of Abrahama.) Do the previous and live a good moral life and on Judgment Day you will enter Paradise. If you do not, you will be condemned to eternity in Hell.

Between Muhammed’s death in 632 A.D. and 750 A.D., Islam stretched from Spain to India.

Approximately 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Southeastern Europe. Almost 1 in 4 people in the world are Muslim.

What role, if any, do you believe Satan played in the birth of Islam? II Corinthians 11:1-15. My opinion - Satan deceived Muhammed by appearing to him as an angel of light/a messenger of God.

All religions (Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity) are different paths that lead to the same God. True or false? John 14:6

Written by Bill Perkins

Sometimes people get upset when they realize that Jesus taught that he is the only way to God. They insist that such a narrow and exclusive message must be wrong. Of course, their conclusion is based on the assumption that anything that's narrow must be wrong. Today we're taught the value of tolerance. And we do need to be tolerant of people with different views. Indeed, such tolerance is virtuous. But we don't want to be tolerant of error.

And it's an error to assume that anything that's narrow is wrong. Truth is narrow and exclusive. Every time I'm in a plane and it lands on the designated runway in the designated direction I'm glad the pilot accepted the narrow and exclusive directions he received from the tower. Or take mathematics, for example. The equation, 2+2= 4, is narrow and exclusive. The combination to a lock is narrow and exclusive.

Jesus taught a narrow path to God? Was he right or wrong? I would suggest he was right as proven by his works. The Old Testament prophets, under divine inspiration, made predictions which only the Messiah could fulfill. The one man who fulfilled all of these prophecies would be the promised Savior. In his book, Science Speaks, Professor Stoner considers eight specific prophecies.

Born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; fulfilled in Matt. 2:1-7; John 7:42).
Preceded by a messenger (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; fulfilled in Matt. 3:1-3)
Enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9; fulfilled in Luke 35-37).
Be betrayed by a friend (Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14; fulfilled in Matt. 10:4).
Sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12; fulfilled in Matt. 26:15; 27:3).
Betrayal money thrown to the potter in God's house (Zec. 11:13; fulfilled in Matt. 27:5-7).
Silent before his accusers (Isaiah 53:7; fulfilled in Mat. 27:12).
Crucified (Psalm 22:16; Zec. 12:10; Is. 53:5,12; fulfilled in Luke 23:33)

Stoner said that by applying the modern science of probability to just these eight prophecies, the likelihood one man up to the present time could have fulfilled them all is 1 chance in 1017th." That would be one in 100,000,000,000,000,000. Of course, such a huge number is meaningless.

Realizing this, Professor Stoner utilized an illustration intended to bring the number down to earth. He asked the reader to imagine the state of Texas covered two-feet deep with silver dollars. That number of silver dollars would approximate 1017th. From that massive pile a single dollar is lifted out and marked. It is then returned to the pile and all the dollars are thoroughly stirred. Finally, a man is blindfolded and told that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up the one silver dollar with the mark on it.

The chance he would get the right one is the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing those eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man, from their day to the present time, providing they wrote in their own wisdom.

The only conclusion we can draw is that the prophecies were either given by divine inspiration or the prophets guessed what would happen. In such a case the prophets had just one chance in 1017 of having them come true in any man, but they all came true in Christ.
Why did this happen? Because God wanted us to know that Jesus was who he claimed to be--the only way a person can approach God.