What Does Islam Believe? (1 John 2:20-23)

What Does Islam Believe? (1 John 2:20-23)

 

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy one, and all of you know the truth.

21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.

22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son.

23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

 

1. Islam started in AD 610 and is the fastest growing religion after Christianity. They believe the Allah is the only god and that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.

 

2. We hear about the Muslims and Islam a lot on the news, but very few know the details of their doctrine and the background to their faith. Today, I am going to talk about 3 important aspects about Islam.

 

A.) 6 Beliefs of Islam

 

All Muslims believe in these 6 things:

 

1. Allah

Islam believes in Allah, a god the Quraish (the tribe Muhammad was a part of) believed in. Muhammad’s father was named Abdullah, as it was traditional at the time to include the name of the god they served in the name of the children.

 

The name Abdullah means “servant of Allah”, a combination “abd” meaning servant and “Allah.” Muhammad’s cousin’s name was Ubaidu’llah, which means “Allah’s small servant.” Allah was the biggest god worshipped by the Quraish. It is said that Allah also had three daughters.

 

There are many doctrines and ideas of Allah that are shared, or rather borrowed, from Christianity and Judaism. However, the Qur’an, the holy book for Muslims, denies the Holy Trinity (Qur’an 41:6) and believes only one God, Allah, exists. They also deny that Jesus was the Son of God and believe he was merely another prophet (Qur’an 112:26, 5:116).

 

2. Angels

Islam believes that angels were created by Allah and are beings that do not eat or drink, and are neither male nor female. They believe all angels are in charge of something and the angel that delivered revelations to Muhammad and other prophets is known as “Jibril,” their pronunciation of “Gabriel”.

 

3. Holy books There are four books in the Qur’an.

1) The “Kitab Tawrat” (the Torah) was revealed through Moses and served the purpose of correcting the corruption of faith. However, they believe that the original was burned and what was written was from mere memory. Thus, they believe the current Torah has become a twisted and warped version of the original over time.

 

2) The “Kitab Zabur” was a book through David, known commonly as the Book of Psalms. It gives revelations about correcting the warped text of the Old Testament and teaches the true ways of prayer. However, Muslims believe many of the current Psalms were added later and not what was originally revealed to David.

 

3) “Kitab Injil” is believed to be the gospels given by Allah through Mary’s son Jesus. It rectifies the errors of the Old Testament, clarifies true faith, gives lessons, and gives warnings. However, the original book, which Allah gave Jesus through Jibril, is believed to have burned after Jesus left and was rewritten in a different language. Therefore, the rewritten version was deemed tainted and inaccurate and the Gospel we use today is nothing like the gospel they believe was given to Jesus from God.

 

4) So what is the Qur’an? Since all three books mentioned above had been tainted and warped, it is believed that Allah revealed to Muhammad the Qur’an as the final and true text Allah reveals.

 

4. Prophets

It it believed that the prophets and apostles were humans chosen by Allah to spread and preach the teachings of Allah. only the most perfect of humans are chosen. They believe the 6 prophets chosen for such a position were Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, and Muhammad. They also consider Mary, the mother of Jesus, the mother of Moses, Muhammad’s wife Khadija and his daughter Fatima to also be prophetesses.

 

Muhammad never performed miracles (Quran 6:37), he was normal man (Quran 47:19, 48:2), but he is believed by all Muslims to be the last prophet of Allah (Quran 33:40). Muhammad’s status is higher than Jesus’ to Muslims. Though he died 1,400 years ago, his actions and words are still strictly obeyed by 1.6 billion Muslims (Quran 33:21).

 

5. The Last Day

 Islam believes that after a person dies and before they are revived, they stay in a sort of purgatory called “Barzakh”. It is believed that their heaven, Jannah, is a place created by Allah for believers and consists of 100 different levels. Where you end up among those levels depends on how faithful and obedient you were during your lifetime.

 

Nonbelievers, however, will end up in and fiery hell. Allah will pass the final judgment based on the person’s past actions. Judgment takes up 14% of the verses in the Quran. No one is exempt from the final judgment, including all the prophets of the past, even Jesus. only Muhammad is exempt because he has already made it to heaven.

Islam heaven is described to be made of gold and filled with beautiful and pure maidens. In other words, it is paradise for men. It does not mention children and their concept of heaven is vastly different from Christianity’s.

 

6. Fatalism

 “Fatalism” is the belief that all things are predetermined, thus unchangeable and inevitable. Islam believes that Allah knows and had set up the destiny of every being that has, is, and will live on this earth (Quran 29:62, 6:59, 22:70, 54:49, 57:22). The lives of all humans are already decided and can never be changed.

 

Knowing this, it is easier to understand why Muslims so often say “inshallah” or “in sha Allah” which means “Allah’s willing.” This idea of “fatalism” is not to be confused with “predestination” in Christianity, which rather places emphasis on God’s sovereignty and providence.

 

 B) John Calvin’s view of Islam

John Calvin (1509-64) pointed out 5 vital pitfalls of the Islamic faith.

 

1) Muhammad is a false prophet.

Calvin sternly stated that Muhammad was a false prophet. In a sermon regarding Deuteronomy 13 he said, “There are those who reject approaching God as the Holy Trinity, and they are Muslims, foreigners, and Jews. They are blasphemous and are like rotten branches of the tree, no longer truly part of it. Their efforts to overtake and eradicate Christianity is no surprise.”

 

Calvin did not hesitate to call Muhammad an apostate (perversion of faith). While talking about 2 Thessalonians 2:2 the pointed out the apostasy that took place then said, Muhammad left Jesus as an apostate and with his followers he betrayed Jesus.”

 

While living in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Muhammad was influenced by the Ebionites, a Christian cult because his wife, Khadija, was a follower. In addition, the only person in Mecca that knew Greek and Hebrew was Ibm Waraqua Naufal, and he too was an Ebionite. 

 

The Ebionites were established in AD 70 when Jerusalem fell at the hands of Rome. They combined Christian and Jewish beliefs, and at the time of Muhammad 300-400 believers lived in Mecca.

 

2) Islam is a heresy.

Calvin said, flat out, that Islam is a heresy. The first Christian to really study and research Islam was Johannes, who lived in Damascus, Syria and was born 20 years after Muhammad’s death.

 

 

Johannes claimed Islam was a heresy because Muhammad started Islam with information he received from a monk of the Arian heresy and said Jesus was Allah’s word and spirit but denied Jesus’ divine power/nature. Calvin later added that as long as Jesus is denied as being the Son of God, the religion is a heresy.

 

3) Idolaters who reject the Holy Trinity.

Islam advocates monotheism, the belief and emphasis on God but denial of the existence of the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Calvin stated that corrupted men must find salvation in Christ and pointed out, “To believe in God is to believe in Christ, but Islam has betrayed this fundamental belief.” He continued by emphasizing, “No one who denies the Son has the Father” (1 John 2:23).

 

4) Islam is the antichrist

Calvin believed that Islam was the antichrist. In Calvin’s sermon about Deuteronomy (18:15, 33:2) in 1556 he says that Muhammad and the pope were the two horns of the antichrist. Through the prophecies of Daniel, Calvin stated that the pope was the antichrist of the west, and Islam the antichrist of the east, together becoming the two horns.

 

5) The need for mission and conversion for Muslims

Calvin did not believe Muslims were immoral or bad people. He preached that they too could repent and gain salvation.

 

 

*Calvin’s application to mission work

Calvin was certain Muslims could return before the Holy Trinity. Yet churches still did not feel it was important or urgent enough to preach the Gospel to Muslims.

 

Because of the neglect and disinterest of churches, it took until 1516 for the Bible to first be translated into Arab. Churches saw Islam as a adversary and competitor thus turned their missions away from them. As a result, nearly 80% of Muslims had not heard the Gospel.

 

 

C) Islam’s Violations of Human Rights

 

1) Women’s Rights

Islamic doctrine dictates that a girl can married at the age of 8-9. Muhammad married his other wife Aisha when she was 6 years-old and when he was 50. At her age of 9 they slept together. Islamic law places no bounds on when a girl can marry.

 

The Quran also states it is acceptable to strike disobedient slaves and wives (4:34). There are even videos on YouTube of Muslim clergy giving sermons on how to beat your wife (search: wife beating in Islam).

 

In the Korean translation of the Quran (translated by Young-ki Choi), it says two “lightly strike” your wife, but the original text says nothing about “lightly” hitting. There was a Time Magazine cover that depicted an Afghani woman with her nose and ear cutoff.

 

Yet there was never any word that her husband, who did such things to her, received any form of punishment. Muhammad said that no 3^rd party is allowed to question why a man is hitting his wife (Abu Dawood Book 11, Number 2142) and this became law.

 

Quran 24:4 says that 4 male witnesses must be brought forth to prove a woman committed adultery. But this verse is twisted to apply to when a woman is raped.

 

“And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses - lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after.”

 

Even today, if a woman is raped but is unable to bring 4 men as witnesses the woman is punished. In Islamic law, 2 women are equal to 1 man (2:282) thus even if a woman brings 5-6 female witnesses it is does not meet the required 4 witnesses and the rapist is set free because there is “not enough evidence.”

 

Even worse, if the victim becomes pregnant the family deems the woman shameful. Having brought irreparable shame and dishonor to the family, the family kills the woman, often known as “honor killing.” Over 5000 women are victims of “honor killings” each year in Islam.

 

 

2) Basic Human Rights

The Quran tells Muslims to fight nonbelievers until they have converted, pay taxes, or are killed (9:29). Pagans were killed if they did not believe.

 

Jews and Christians were forced to pay “jizyah” a heavy tax also known as a “head tax” or “neck tax” because being unable to pay would result in one’s beheading. Sometimes the consequence of being unable to pay meant being sold as slaves in markets.

 

3) Incorrect Understanding of Martyrdom

The Quran tells Muslims that if nonbelievers are killed they will be rewarded with 72 virgins in heaven (9:111).

 

“Allah has bought from the believers their selves and their possessions against the gift of Paradise; they fight in the way of Allah; they kill, and are killed; that is a promise binding upon Allah in the Tawrat (Torah), and the Injeel (Gospel), and the Quran; and who fulfils his covenant truer than God? So rejoice in the bargain you have made with Him; that is the mighty triumph.”

 

Here, we see the transaction of lives for reward in Paradise described. Hence, this verse rationalizes the extreme acts of suicide bombers; they believe their actions are for Allah and that great rewards, beautiful virgin wives (huris), await them. (Quran 55:56, 74)

 

 

Those who die without believing have nowhere to go but Hell. But the people spreading Islam, teaching lies, and leading people to Hell are committing greater horrendous sins. We must put every effort pray for them.